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March 2016
Housing
A
comprehensivemanual outlin-
ing the guidelines was recently
released. The revisions to the
guidelines were made in conjunc-
tion with the South African Bureau
of Standards (SABS). Speaking at
the launch, NHBRC Special Projects
advisor Dr Jeffrey Mahachi said the
revisions to the guidelines had been
a long time coming.
“More than 15 years after the
original guidelines were released, we
embarked on a process of putting to-
gether a new manual to address cur-
rent challenges in the sector,” he said.
“The development of the manual
involved various stakeholders across
the South African construction sector
and we are highly satisfied with the
final document.”
Mahachi explained that the new
manual would address a number of
issues that had become concerns
for the NHBRC and the industry as
a whole.
“Our mandate is to assure quality
homes,” he said. “The new guidelines
address issues such as the standards
of building materials, the rules gov-
erning new building technologies,
training and development, andmany
others.”
A representative from the SABS, Dr
Sadhvir Bissoon said that themanual
was an important first step in estab-
lishing and implementing national
standards to ensure effective quality
assurance in the built industry. “One
of the things that this will help us to
do is get into international markets
and lock out sub-standard products
from the South African market,” he
said.
Other key issues that the guide-
lines address include the SANS 10400
Standards for material, energy effi-
ciency, newtechnology for inspection
of houses, and soil classification.
In his address at the launch event,
NHBRC Chairperson Abbey Chikane
encouraged the builders and hous-
ing consumers to continue to engage
with the council.
“We will continue to educate the
built industry through various pub-
lications such as the ones that are
launched today,” he said.
A number of technical publica-
tions, which were developed by
the NHBRC’s Centre for Research
and Housing Innovation, were also
launched. These include: Eric Molobi
Housing Innovation; Housing Con-
sumer Brochure; Home Builders Bro-
chure; Energy Efficiency Guidelines;
Promoting Innovative Building Tech-
nologies NHBRC: Here to Help You,
cartoon booklet; Housing Typologies
for Disabled Persons.
The NHBRC also offers services
such as enrolment of new homes,
home builder registration, home
building inspections, builder train-
ing, geotechnical and materials
engineering.
In 2015/16 financial year the
NHBRC has trained 827 youth, 187
artisans, 81military veterans and
1 857 emerging home builders. Of this
total women make up 64% (i.e. 530)
of the youth, 44% (i.e. 36) of military
veterans and 44% (i.e. 821) of the
emerging home builders. For more
information:
www.nhbrc.org.za■
New SA
construction
guidelines
The National Home Builders
Registration Council (NHBRC)
launched a series of building
guidelines that are set to make
a significant impact on the way
the local construction sector
operates.
Dr Jeffrey Mahachi