The first stonehouse built at
the Mbekweni Project

• Project Description
• Partnerships
• Project Innovation
• Project Effectiveness
• Finacial Management of the Project
• Poverty Impact
• Sustainability
• Project Summary

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Introduction and Key Social Issues

This project is located in the small town of Mbekweni which lies between Paarl and Wellington in the Western Cape, a predominantly wine and fruit growing region. It is set against a spectacular mountain backdrop, with a picturesque water body on its one edge. Most of Mbekweni's people are isiXhosa speaking, and many are first generation urban dwellers that call the Eastern Cape home. A substantial amount of the inhabitants rent backyard shacks, many no bigger than 10 square meters. In 2004 the Department of Housing approved an application from Drakenstein Municipality to develop 766 erven in Mbekweni. The standard municipal services infrastructure was installed.

In 2005 the project was unblocked and the Provincial Department of Local Government and Housing developed a strategy in partnership with the Umsobomvu Youth Fund (UYF) and the Department of Labour. The project was to be completed under the umbrella of the Department's Peoples Housing Process where unskilled and unemployed Mbekweni youth are trained in life skills, business skills, eco construction and sustainable development

The Department then commissioned Vernon Collis (in association with Anna Cowen) - an architectural and engineering consultancy that specializes in sustainable development - to design a tract of sustainable housing.

The project is divided into 4 key phases. The first, which was completed in December 2005, comprised the design and construction of one house using materials found on or nearby the site, and utilizing waste streams from construction and industry and renewable building materials (see five Photos attached). "Stonehouse" has been described by those who built it as Xhosa-Constantia, a combination of wine-lands vernacular and traditional Xhosa architecture. It is a double-storey house with a total habitable area of 60m². This is almost double the area of the standard housing-subsidy funded unit, and yet it cost the same to build. The second phase is currently underway where 7 more houses are being constructed as demonstrations for the rest of the development. The 8 units will serve as an experimental testing ground to explore technology and economies of scale in this innovative and groundbreaking construction process. The final two phases involve the delivery of a further 59 houses, and a final 250.

Primary Objectives

Despite the best of intentions, much of the housing that is built in South Africa today remains the same repetitive, 36m² block, with little consideration given to environmental concerns, to solar orientation and thermal comfort, or to peoples' urgent need to be both as self-sufficient as possible, and to generate income from their properties. This project's primary objective is to demonstrate an alternative way of delivering housing - one that is in harmony with the earth's needs in this time of global environmental crisis, and one where a thriving and independent community is co-created, one where the local unskilled and unemployed can be included in the construction process, and one where a larger unit is built for the same subsidy. Here also, it is hoped, each house will become a home.

Project Activities

The activities of this project are diverse, and on-going. Most importantly, it is intended that the intervention be designed in such a way so as to transfer skills and ways of thinking and seeing so that the people of Mbekweni can eventually continue on their own.

In this project, the process of designing and constructing the housing are conceived as learning experiences for all involved. Activities include participatory mapping (see Appendix 2) and design processes, skills training of local youth in sustainable construction, identification and nurturing of new business opportunities, identification and utilization of waste streams from the construction and other industries as useful and cost-effective building materials, utilization of locally sourced mineral and renewable resources for construction, the encouragement of urban agriculture to facilitate food security and bio-diversity, harvesting of rain water from roofs for gardening and so on.

Target Beneficiaries and Participatory Processes

This project is intended to benefit all involved in it. Whilst the primary beneficiaries are the new homeowners and their families, it is intended that those doing the construction work will both gain new skills and be able to start small businesses. Working with waste streams and renewable and site-won resources offers enormous opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship. An example of this might be a roof truss-making business from industrial reject timber pieces - something that is demonstrated in the project. It is also intended that a range of supporting projects are started in the wider community (see Appendix 1) so that there is a gradual and sustained community based shift in the way in which people view resources and waste, and by extension, our fragile earth. The Autonomous School's Project is a good example of this.

A number of different participatory processes have both taken place, and will continue to take place. These include design meetings with the beneficiaries, the elected community based support committee for the new housing, the design consultants and local and provincial government. An on-going and in-depth mapping process included many one on one interviews with the people of Mbekweni to gain an understanding of needs, social networks, cultural belief systems, current attitudes to waste and resources and so on. An anthropologist is employed on the project to serve as the communications facilitator between the consultant, government and the Mbekweni community. This is an unusual innovation in housing delivery, and is ensuring a deeper understanding of localized value systems, needs and expectations. Many projects fail because the consultants have not understood their context well enough.

National Needs

It is our belief that this project has enormous potential on a national scale. It is being viewed as a key pilot project by the Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housing and has the full backing of MEC Richard Dyantyi. Further, there is interest in it on a National Government level. Should it be successful, then it has the potential to redress some of the major issues facing South Africa today.

PARTNERSHIPS

This project is an excellent example of the kind of partnerships that are so essential if we are to address the pressing needs of South African society. It is initiated by Provincial Government, and supported by Local Government with assistance from the design consultants, Vernon Collis/Anna Cowen and their associates, the local Mbekweni community in the form of the projects beneficiaries, the locally elected housing support committee, the local youth in the People's Housing Process driven skills training program, Tjeka and Eco-city, both training service providers to Umsobomvu and the Department of Labour, corporate entities like the Old Mutual Foundation, and the Universities of Cape Town and Stellenbosch. Each party brings their own skill and perspectives, which continue to enrich and strengthen the project.

The Department of Local Government and Housing is in the process of forming a partnership agreement with the Department of Correctional Services. This partnership agreement will involve 20 volunteer prisoners undergoing a house building course, incorporating life and business skills and their practical training on the project.

PROJECT INNOVATION

The project's core innovation is that, in the bigger picture, it intends to shift economic practice away from a throughput, linear paradigm to a cyclical, regenerative one. There is a growing awareness that the current economic paradigm of late capitalism is no longer serving planetary well-being. The system has become mechanistic excluding the unskilled and women from the process. In this current economic thinking waste is someone else's problem, and that there is an inexhaustible supply of raw material to fuel "growth". In the example of "Stonehouse", stone was resourced from both the excavations and nearby road construction to make up aggregate for the concrete foundations as well as the external skin of the structure. Foundation bricks were recovered from the municipal dumpsite, which is replenished daily with demolished building material (see Appendix 3).

The long and narrow building creates a short span that allows for an additional and economic loft floor, almost 30 square meters of 'bonus' floor space. Local pine poles and timber palettes make up the roof. The stone walls and well insulated roof keep out the oppressive summer heat, insulation provided by waste carpet underfelt that normally becomes landfill.

This project includes an intermediate and simple building technology where no onsite machinery is required. Furthermore, the short lengths and lighter structural elements allow for individually owned "bakkies" to transport materials and for women to participate in this labour intensive appropriate technology. The technology is easy to grasp making it transferable. The communities' familiar technologies were used to inform the design, inspired by the Xhosa skill around the use of stone and the ubiquitous timber palette shacks as well as the spirit of creating art from waste.

This project aims to demonstrate, to all involved, that there is value in waste, that local is "lekker", and that the earth offers us great gifts for our use - the sun, the soil, the rain, and that the building process is not exclusive where all can learn and participate in the building of a culturally acceptable home and community.

PROJECT EFFECTIVENESS

The indicators for effectiveness on this project are a work in progress. Moreover, there is a complex combination of both measurable and immeasurable aspects to this project. One example of a measurable is energy saving through thoughtful design - i.e. reduced electricity bills through thermal efficiency. Current energy use is being documented, and will be compared to use in the new dwellings. The same applies to water use, food bills once vegetable gardens are established, and so on. Another key indicator is the level of skills transfer to the youth, and the number of employed and new businesses that emerge from the project. It will only be possible to get a sense of this in a year or so.

There has generally been a very good response to the project, with real interest being shown in the amount of extra space and financial savings that can be gained through the judicious use of waste and locally sourced materials like stone. There is an on-going process to monitor and reflect on local responses to the project.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF THE PROJECT

The Western Cape Housing Development Board approved the project in the interim housing subsidy amount of R17 382 072.00, which allocates approximately R26 600 per house in the 2005/2006 subsidy quantum. These funds are the only funds available for the project. The project will be phased in order to benefit from the yearly increase in the subsidy quantum from National Government. Drakenstein Municipality is the developer and the Account Administrator and is therefore responsible for the financial management of the project and has to adhere to the Municipal Financial Management Act.

POVERTY IMPACT

The construction technology employed allows for the inclusion of the unskilled and unemployed. For example the separation of excavated stone, of which there is an abundance on site, is re-used as walling and as concrete aggregate as opposed to imported ready-mix concrete say. Similarly for bricks and other building materials separated from the dump sites. This spirit of recycling and re-use has already spiked informal trade, where road-side recovered brick vendors have sprung up from this and another project that the same consulting team has designed.

The house itself provides an additional and "bonus" rentable upper floor (Normally rentable shacks would be built around the poorly positioned standard square units thus reducing any garden space). Add the planned cost saving rain-water tanks, the garden project and set-back sunny north aspect of the long narrow home and a more generous garden space is provided with ample sun with potential food security and income. The north aspect has a vine pergola that shades the house in summer but allows the winter sun to warm the home. This, the generous windows and the thick walls provide a healthy dry living environment.

The 2nd Phase houses have been designed to accommodate additions and alterations. Models show how rooms can be easily and economically added and where doors and walls can be deconstructed for reuse. In fact, as robust as the units are, they have been designed for ultimate easy deconstruction. In comparison, the popular hollow block low cost units make renovations and re-use nearly impossible.

The inclusive design and implementation process has fostered the well being and respected the dignity of both the culture and the individual through the one-on-one concern and the inclusive practice carried out by the team.

SUSTAINABILITY

The project is about to enter it's second Phase, and when complete, eight Units would have been built and fully monitored. All aspects of the delivery of these eight houses will be recorded, the information informing the final design of units. It is planned that by the end of Phase 3, the completion of the 66 units, the houses will be replicable without the assistance of external consultants and within the government subsidy. It is planned that adequate training will have occurred, supply issues sorted and the design refined. A simple illustrated construction manual is being produced for instruction. Coupled with the prototype units and the knowledge and skills transferred, the project is planned to gather its own momentum. The provincial government staff involved in the project is being trained and a demonstration video of the construction of the first 8 units will be produced.

By the end of the training period of the first 8 houses, the "contractor" will erect the 66 units, but more independently than previously. He will be assisted and closely monitored using the local labour - those trained in the Youth Program - and the beneficiaries themselves. During the construction of the first unit, the beneficiaries contributed "sweat" towards the construction of the home. If, for example, stones are collected and cleaned by them, the cost saving is credited and converted to another aspect of the home, like an additional window and so on.

It is planned that the success of this model will inspire similar projects to commence around the province and hopefully the country. The project presents benefits, both measurable and social. However will and belief are the main ingredients of success, and that aspect is aimed to be developed by providing tangible proof, which is the successful construction of the first eight units.

PROJECT SUMMARY

In an attempt to address the chronic low-cost housing crisis currently facing Cape Town, the Provincial Government unblocked 791 erven in Mbekweni, near Paarl, making this project available for the construction of freestanding dwellings.

The design, which was originally put forward, restricted each home to follow an identical model, measuring 36m² and built in cement-block construction. To avoid the sterile and cloned appearance, which such a design would give to a new development, an alternative model was presented and a prototype built.

This prototype was named Stonehouse and its primary objective was to demonstrate the construction of a low-cost, aesthetically pleasing, energy efficient, replicable and culturally approved 'home'.

A second objective was to make use of recycled material, site-won resources and sweat equity. The project also strove to use both skilled and unskilled labour, and to create a platform for skills development.

The project, completed through cooperation between government and a private consultant, succeeded on all these counts. It demonstrated an alternative and successful way to deliver low-cost housing through the provision of an inclusive and sustainable development platform.

The construction of Stonehouse, through making use of recycled materials, led to the development of a secondary industry and employment base. This secondary base formed around the recovery, sale and transport of recycled materials. Bricks and materials were sourced from the local municipal dump. Stone was sourced from the actual site and used to make up the external skin of the walls for their sun-oriented rectangular plan. The internal skin was made from recycled green brick created from demolition waste.

The long and narrow structure of Stonehouse creates a short span that allows an additional loft floor and 'bonus' 30m² useable (perhaps rentable) roof space. The heavy walls and roof insulation successfully keep out the oppressive summer heat. The upper structure, built from pine off-cuts, local poles and timber palettes, employs intermediate construction technologies. These technologies are easily taught and are designed in such a manner that women and young people can participate in construction.

Most importantly, the construction cost of a basic unit remains within the government subsidy. The design allows for the easy addition of rainwater tanks and solar water geysers installed by the beneficiary.

The project aims to include supporting projects so that there is a gradual and sustained community based shift to the way people view resources and waste and, by extension, our fragile earth. The project aims to eventually deliver about 300 homes, along with transferred sustainability skills to a healthy, dignified Mbekweni community.

• Major Sponsor: ISebe loRhulumente woMmandla nezeZindlu (uRhulumente Wephondo leNtshona Kapa)
• Developer: UMaspala Wengingqi yeDrakenstein
• Partner: Isebe Lezabasebenzi (The Government of South Africa)