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November 2015
Housing
March 2014
S
TAG African is leading the way
in the student accommodation
sector. The company changed
their company direction in 2008 due
to the property crisis and recession.
Managing Director and founder of
the student accommodation group,
STAG African, John Schooling said:
“Developers were crashing right left
and centre and we found ourselves
in some serious trouble; we had to in-
novate in order to survive. During that
time we identified an opportunity to
develop, build, operate and finance
student residences.”
With university budgets facing
major constraints and cutbacks
from national government, student
accommodation in South Africa is in a
dire state. The knock on effect of poor
accommodation is directly linked to
the high failure rate at universities;
“By creating optimally designed
residences, the pass rate can be in-
creased from 60 to 80%. Simply put,
by not providing adequate housing,
we’re setting up our learners to fail.
The ramifications are huge,” says
Schooling.
The problem for universities is that
the cost of student accommodation
is very expensive. Using green build-
ing practices, STAG African is able to
reduce building time by 40% and the
costs associatedwith it dramatically.
At universities, where cost ultimately
is the deciding factor, sustainable,
environmental building is an obvious
economic choice.
STAG’s commitment to green de-
velopment is one of the company’s
biggest advantages; “In the near
future it will be the preferred way of
building. Our aim is to be known as
the most innovative green company
in Africa, not just in the student ac-
commodation sector, but for all our
projects.”
With this in mind, STAG is already
developing skills in its local areas of
operation to prepare for amore envi-
ronmentally aware construction sec-
tor; an initiative which fits perfectly
within the company’s encompassing
philosophy of enriching lives.
“Not enough is being done at
the moment to promote internal
development through green skills
and green jobs. We are committed
The growth of green
building in South Africa
trumps that of established
sustainability building
regions such as Europe,
Australia, United States,
United Arab Emirates,
Singapore and Brazil. This
was confirmed in a World
Green Building Trends
survey run by US-based
McGraw-Hill Construction.
Accommodation for