SA Affordable Housing September / October 2020 | Page 12

ASSOCIATIONS
CESA’s mandate is
sustainability of affordable
housing
By Eamonn Ryan
Many member firms of CESA (Consulting Engineers South Africa) are
involved in affordable housing. Consulting engineers play a major role
in ensuring that while housing is made ever more affordable, it remains
compliant in all respects, says CESA chief executive officer Chris Campbell in
an exclusive interview with SA Affordable Housing.
EAMONN RYAN
Campbell explains that sustainability of affordable
housing is maintained through achieving volume – not
by cutting corners in construction.
“From an engineering perspective, as much as a structure
has to be made within the price affordability of the purchaser,
it is not sustainable if inexperienced contractors are appointed
without the oversight from the client or an employer’s agent,
and who cut corners or make mistakes on a large project. The
same shortcoming may be duplicated in several units leading
to a potentially large number of defects which become difficult
or even impossible to remedy. By the time defects materialise
it may be too late as the money’s been spent. It then becomes
a lot more expensive to remedy the defects than it would have
to do the job properly in the first place,” says Campbell.
“Too often, in the case of mass housing developments, it is
the starting point that is not right. You have to at least have done
a fundamental geotechnical assessment of the site to inform the
engineer as to what proper foundation type is required. Without
Consulting Engineers South Africa chief executive officer,
Chris Campbell.
that, the engineer may either over-design or under-design.”
Dolomitic soil conditions are rife in Johannesburg and can add
weeks of time and millions of rands to a project and affect the
entire design of the development from a drainage point of view.
If those fundamentals are not in place at the outset, says
Campbell, not only may costs escalate – jeopardising the
affordability of the project – but actual lives may be at risk
from the potential for sinkholes.
“The environmental impact assessment (EIA) is another
vital legal requirement, the absence of which can result,
among others, in infestations of flora and fauna which were
the original indigenous inhabitants of that habitat. An EIA
would have revealed that fact and permitted consideration of
more environmentally suitable locations.
TAKING THE TCO VIEWPOINT
“The challenge is that we have SANS 10400 (the old National
Building Regulations), but South Africa has lost the capacity
for oversight. Without that oversight, it doesn’t matter what
standards you have, some people will take shortcuts to bypass
the regulations. Once the development is signed off, the
developer’s liability ends, whereas some of the problems
manifest themselves long after – leaving that defect to the
homeowner to resolve.”
“CESA has long advocated a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
approach to the development of infrastructure, including
affordable housing, taking a period of ownership of as much
as 50 years or more as a house may be upgraded and pass
on from one owner to another. The consulting engineers’
costs typically only make up 2% of the TCO, whereas 25%
is attributed to construction costs and the remaining 73%
can be attributed to owning and maintaining such an asset.
For instance, if your starting point and choice of materials
were wrong, the later maintenance costs may be a lot higher.
The same perspective applies whether for a road or a house:
a higher upfront capital cost may reduce the long-term
maintenance costs. These decisions need to be factored in,
and if a developer does not start with competent advice poor
10 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2020 SAAffordHousing saaffordablehousingmag SA Affordable Housing www.saaffordablehousing.co.za