Prefab Construction Fails to make Gains in $400bn Housing Market

The lukewarm attitude of homeowners and real estate developers towards new alternative building systems such as Dry construction (Dryco) is suppressing the ability of the new building solution to leverage on Nigeria’s $400 billion housing market opportunity, BusinessDay investigations show.

The innovative building solution also challenged by the lack of adequate expertise on the part of builders and artisans, analysts say, holds the potential to revolutionising Nigeria’s housing sector through the mass production of  quality affordable housing.

Dry construction, which centres on the use of wooden materials, including gypsum boards, plywood, or wallboard, to construct houses, had been tipped as a more pragmatic approach in delivering mass housing schemes, considering its numerous advantages over wet construction.  Some of these advantages are speed of construction, flexibility, sustainability and accessibility to remote locations, amongst others.

In Nigeria – Africa’s biggest economy , the housing sector is plagued with challenges, ranging from ineffective mortgage systems to high interest rates and bureaucratic land aquisition processes . These have resulted in low home ownership levels which hover around 10 percent.

“The lack of necessary construction skills and general apathy towards dry construction in the property market  has stalled the system from blossoming like as it has done in other climes,” Ladi Lewis, chairman, Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA), Lagos State chapter, told BusinessDay in an exclusive chat.

Ladi, who also fingered the lack of a firm government policy to spur Dryco’s growth, stressed the need for the government to boost the confidence of willing investors by creating an enabling environment to encourage and create a leeway for investors and developers who are eager to drive the growth of the new building system.

“For instance, Our building code and other relevant laws are mute on the application of alternative building technologies such as Dryco, these laws need to be reviewed to create room for new building systems,” he said, adding that with a more aggressive marketing approach, the system would flourish, considering the country’s huge housing deficit.

According to the 2013 National Integrated Master Plan (NIMP), tackling Nigeria’s 17million housing deficit will require providing an additional one million housing units annually, until 2043.

This massive shortfall, analysts say, presents an immense opportunity for both local and  foreign investors of about $400 billion in market value.

“Nigeria’s huge housing deficit presents a huge opportunity for alternative building systems to thrive on but the new system is confronted with a host of challenges,” Timothy Nubi, a professor in charge of the Centre for Housing Studies at the University of Lagos, told this reporter in a phone interview.

Nubi, who acknowledged that the new trend is still in its infancy stage, maintained that the prospects of the new system becoming a force to reckon with in the near future remains high.

Ibidire Adetunji Lams, developer, Freshland estate, reiterated the low acceptability of modern building solutions as a major challenge to Dry construction.

To Adetunji, the inability of the local industry to drive the production value chain of prefabricated building systems also poses a major hindrance to the growth of the new construction system.

Adetunji was however optimistic that the challenges would be overcome in the next decade, when he sees the innovative buildings systems maturing into a major housing solution.

Meanwhile, roofing sheet manufacturer, Nigerite is pushing its new KALSI dry construction solution into the housing construction market with a N2 billion investment.

The firm says the investment will be utilised to drive production of the new building solution and also help train artisans on the techniques of installing the new building system.

“In the process of our continuous devotion to quality and innovation, we have developed an entirely novel and friendly solution in the built industry – the Dry Construction system as a

viable alternative to the traditional wet construction method,” Frank LeBris, managing director, Nigerite Limited, said at the product unveiling in Lagos.

ODINAKA MBONU