SA Affordable Housing November - December 2018 // Issue: 73 | Page 20
FEATURES
Green pod homes:
providing an alternative
solution
In the affordable housing space ‘sustainability’ is a huge buzzword covering
everything from development methods, to finances and lifecycle costs of the
home. So, could sustainable pod homes be the answer?
By Warren Robertson
Pod homes tend to create less waste than traditional buildings.
O
ver the past few years there have been a number of
developments targeted at producing renewable pod
style homes that are not only cost effective, but also
easy to set up on site and kinder to the environment.
If you take Malibongwe Drive north out of Johannesburg,
past Cosmo city, on the way to Lanseria airport you very
quickly find yourself flanked on both sides by large,
undeveloped plots. It is here, down a small, non-descript
road that Iqbal Hirji and his team at RWPA Solutions have set
up a new kind of housing marvel. Designed and developed
from recycled chip packets, bottles and other often
forgotten plastic waste Hirji and his team have created a
series of small, fully-functioning buildings that today house
a playschool for local children.
The buildings come in two primary sizes, and while most
of the buildings are stripped down to function as a toilet
block or storage areas, a few have been done to full
18
NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2018
specifications that include insulation in both the walls and
ceilings, as well as electricity and in some cases plumbing.
It’s a design that Hirji hopes to eventually take nationwide to
fill the desperate need in the country for low-cost housing.
“We are still at the stage where we are working out the
details and estimate they will eventually cost about R150 000
each, but as you can see, the concept works,” says Hirji who
also passionately explains that his eventual goal is to ensure
that South Africans do not need to live in shacks.
The houses are generally laid out as one large open room
that includes a small kitchenette counter, as well as a
bathroom that includes a toilet and shower. It’s stripped
back and minimalist, but as Hirji explains it is also, “Warm in
winter, cool in summer, lockable and safe.”
The homes stand on stilts to ensure that wherever they
are delivered they can be set up immediately without any
need for earthworks on site.
www.SAAffordableHousing.co.za