Industrialised Building Systems for Housing the Poor in South Africa

Housing the poor is one of the greatest challenges that face governments around the world, especially developing countries. Since its transaction into a democratic state, the housing situation in South Africa is growing more acute and the government is struggling to meet the increasing housing demand. This could be attributed to a number of reasons, amongst them the Conventional Building System (CBS) which is characterised by its slow delivery rate, poor quality, fragmented control and high cost. Although the Industrialised Building System (IBS) is not used widely in South Africa, it is expected to deliver fast, affordable, high quality and sustainable houses that meet or exceed the expectations of end-users. To gain the benefits of both systems, a hybrid system, that utilise the qualities of IBS and CBS, needs to be developed in order to suite the South African context. Adopting such system will achieve the government goals, benefit contractors and satisfy the needs of end- user. This book compares between the two systems and investigate the feasibility of industrialised building systems as a strategic option for housing the poor in South Africa.