Timber iQ December 2019 - January 2020 // Issue: 47 | Page 32

FEATURES
Africa’s potential with
timber construction
By Dineo Phoshoko
Timber has proven to be a reliable building material.
There has been a lot of innovation using timber
where building designs and methods have improved.
Continents such as Europe and the Americas are
advanced in terms of timber construction, while Africa
is still lagging behind.
R
esearch has shown that timber has been used
for construction for many years. In their paper
titled Modern Techniques of Using Timber in
Building Structures and Components in Nigeria, authors
Yomi Michael D. Adedeji and Professor Olu Ola
Ogunsote mention that timber has been used as a
construction material for 400 000 years. In addition, they
add that it is more common in the construction of floors,
walls and roofs.
NIGERIA AS A CASE STUDY
Adedeji and Ogunsote mention that timber is available in the
forested parts of Nigeria. Its availability has also made
provision for a variety of building materials and products used
for timber construction in Nigeria. They further add that most
of the roof structures and ceiling noggins in Nigeria are
constructed from timber, specifically the abora, aye and afara
species. These species are durable and easy to work with
– making them ideal for roof structures and ceiling noggins.
Another species commonly used for construction in the West
African country is opepe. Because of its natural resistance to
insect attack, the yellow looking hardwood is used for doors
and window frames.
Professor Ikechukwu Onyegiri and Iwuagwu Ben Ugochukwu
co-authored a journal article which was published the
International Journal of Research in Chemical, Metallurgical
and Civil Engineering. The article mentions timber as one of
the traditional building materials found in large quantities in
Nigeria. The article titled Traditional Building Materials as a
Sustainable Resource and Material for Low Cost Housing in
Nigeria: Advantages, Challenges and the Way Forward, also
explains that in the olden days, homes were built using
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DECEMBER 2019 / JANUARY 2020 //
traditional materials comprising of mud, straw,
timber, thatch and grass.
PERCEPTIONS AND
OPPORTUNITIES ABOUT
TIMBER CONSTRUCTION
Although timber has its roots in construction,
brick and concrete soon took over Onyegiri
and Ugochukwu mention that this soon
changed when modern technologies were
introduced during the industrial period. Among
those technologies were concrete blocks and
slabs. With time, people living in wattle and
daub houses wanted to change their homes to
new trend that was brick and mortar.
With the new trend, came a perception was created that
brick and mortar structures were better than structures built
with alternative materials such as timber. One of the reasons
timber construction is still slightly behind on the continent is
due to the perception about using timber for construction. In
the book Housing Market Dynamics in Africa, authors El-hadj
M. Bah, Issa Faye and Zekebweliwai F. Geh mention that
there is a perception that houses built using brick and mortar
are better than houses built using alternative building
technologies such as prefabricated material and timber.
Sabie Poles marketing manager Danie Boshoff shares the
book’s sentiments, saying that in South Africa and the rest of
Africa, brick and mortar are the dominant materials when it
comes to construction.
Although people still prefer to use the brick and mortar for
construction, there are still many opportunities for timber
construction on the continent. According to Boshoff, timber
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