EDITOR ' S NOTE
We must speed up housing delivery
Rory Macnamara , Editor
The initiative by the Dept of Trade , Industry and Competition ( dtic ) to promote timber in construction is a bold one and a much needed one .
In the early 1880s this country had many timber houses . The weakness may well have been the treatment of such timber and probably contributed over time to the misconceptions of timber as a building material .
Human Settlements now need to stop treating timber as an alternative material and it must become a mainline material . The development of wood treatment and technology around timber and its different types suitable for such structures has developed in leaps and bounds .
Granted we are a bricks-and-mortar country , but the time has come for us to correctly assess and adopt other materials .
This issue provides our usual contributors adding depth and thought-provoking editorial , and we introduce SATAS as a new contributor who will discuss accreditation and certification .
Affordable Housing does not mean cheap and nasty and should represent the best we all have to offer out of respect to those who will call these houses their home .
Sadly , in our search for excellence in projects we are blocked by some who have not adhered to standards , compulsory ones at that , and the homeowner who become their prey . Jewel City , which we feature in this issue is a fine example of affordable housing .
Strange how we love putting people in boxes according to earnings . Affordable housing is a relative term , and this publication will look at all housing to accommodate the people of this country and will not be governed by their earnings . We only draw the line at government ’ s creation of slums and conditions that no human should live in , mainly because they cannot get their act together and allow corruption to continue with impunity .
Rory
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www . saaffordablehousing . co . za JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 3