Concerned by the increasing housing deficit in Nigeria pegged at 16million, Growth and Employment in States in the Construction and Real Estate sector (GEMS 2) have urged stakeholders and developers in real estate sector to embrace the dry construction method as an alternative to wet construction.
Speaking at an interactive forum themed; Innovative Building Construction in the 21st century, Ronald Ashkin, Technical Director, GEMS stressed the need for stakeholders in the construction sector, to deviate from the regular wet construction which has not yielded expected result, to the ever increasing demand for housing in the country.
Furthermore he revealed that the shortfall in the housing sector has offered a 600 billion dollar opportunity for developers to make a meal of.
“To curb the alarming housing deficit in the country, dry construction is the way to go”, said Chucks Omeife, President, Nigerian Institute of Builders (NIOB)
Dry construction is basically the use of composite panels or boards installed on metal or timber structures to build exterior walls, interior walls, explained Onovre Jesse, Technical Products Manager, Nigerite
The construction process involves the use of pre-fabricated building components, brought to site for assemblage. According to him, with components already fabricated to design specifications, housing projects can be delivered faster and cheaper to required standard.
He noted that dry construction reduces cost of building significantly. It also hastens construction, and in turn hastens housing delivery, he added.
According to Sam Odia, National Director Fuller Center for Housing, dry construction saves as much as 70 percent of time when compared to wet construction.
Onovre also revealed that machines and all the necessary technology needed for the implementation of dry construction are currently available in the country, as the issue of importation does not arise.
Ashkin, in this regard urged developers to migrate to dry construction, to enable them meet up with short periods of re-paying bank loans, recoup their investment and equally deliver housing faster to their prospective clients.
Ashkin in this regard urged developers to migrate to dry construction noting that the system which delivers housing solutions within a short period will also offer an escape route to estate developers to subscribe to short term loans from mortgage institutions to build, re coup their investment and even deliver housing solutions faster to their prospective clients.
However, some stakeholders at the forum expressed concern about easy adaptation to the new method noting challenges of re-tool, re skill and acceptability.
