Housing in Southern Africa October 2015

The country’s trend- setting Eric Molobi Housing Innovation Hub aims to attract manufacturers, developers and suppliers of fresh new energy efficient building technologies, in order to fast track housing delivery. The NHBRC's hub is sparking creative thinking and awakening the entrepreneurial spirit with its call to sector players to have their systems evaluated, so as to be included in the national government database of approved Innovative Building Technology (IBT) systems.

Eric Molobi

W ith government committed to providing 1,5 million housing opportunities by 2019, it is a unique opportunity for developers and suppliers to provide IBTproducts and systems for projects of scale. The national database will assist the Provincial Human Settle- mentsDepartments to select systems for developments. With the Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu, promising to roll out 77 Cata- lytic Projects throughout the country, IBT systems will be utilised to meet government’s housing tar- gets. T h e focus on energy

efficiency andperformance is amajor factor in residential housing since the introduction of the South African National Standard Energy usage in buildings (SANS 10400 XA). The Hub aims to include new, fresh technolo- gies that address issues around en- ergy efficient housing. Set up andorganisedby the state’s housing regulatory authority, the National Home Builders Registra- tion Council (NHBRC), the Hub has played a pioneering role in showcas- ing houses built using IBT systems at its testing and teaching facility in Soshanguve, Tshwane. Since the official opening in 2007, the facility has grown into the coun- try’s leading housing technical centre under the guidance of the Hub’s technical guru, Dr Jeffrey Mahachi and his team. Mahachi heads up the NHBRC’s Centre for Research and Housing Innovation, which oversees theHub. As the foremost authority on IBTs, his passion for the technical and scientific work being carried out will benefit the Department of Human Settlements as well as the private sector to fast track housing across the spectrum. The housing typologies and sys- tems have been put through strin- gent tests withstanding inclement weather conditions, hail storms on

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