Tlholego - Housing

Tlholego Ecovillage:

A Sustainable Development Project in Rural South Africa

Housing

Page 2

The Tlholego Building System (TBS)

The TBS is a flexible, owner-built, low-cost, high-quality housing system. It avoids the serious shortcomings of current low-cost housing construction in South Africa, while addressing environmental and resource problems that are not usually considered in South African low-cost housing.

It combines the principles of sustainable building systems with natural waste treatment and the permaculture approach for designing food self-reliance. This includes using modern techniques of unburned mudbrick, passive solar design, appropriate technologies of rainwater collection, compost toilets, grey-water irrigation and solar water heating.

Thus far, we have replaced sub-standard housing at Tlholego by constructing four high-quality houses using the TBS, and another three TBS houses at other locations in South Africa.

TBS houses perform to modern standards and uses natural materials to minimize damage to the environment. Although this system was conceived as a solution to the low-end of the housing market, it is in fact applicable to all sections of the housing market. It is also flexible enough to accommodate conventional building materials.

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Graphic representation of Tlholego Village model

Click on image to view entire model (116K)

Accomplishments to Date

During the 1996 period, Brian Woodward spent six months at the TDP developing the first phase of the TBS. At this time, two prototype buildings were constructed. Prototype 1 was completely finished and consisted of a 45-square-meter family house.

Prototype 2, a larger 65-square-meter unit was completed to roof level during this period. In 1998, Brian returned to Tlholego to facilitate further development and training. Together we completed one 28-square-meter Prototype 3 unit, and a second to roof level.

(sketch of Prototype 2 below).

During 1999, the building team plus two interns from the U.S. spent two months finishing the second Prototype 3 unit, installing solar hot water, completing the compost toilet, connecting shade and rain water collection to the building, completing the interior details, and ensuring that everything was in proper working order. This model now provides an opportunity for all people to experience first-hand the comfort, energy efficiency and value for money that this technology provides.

In February 2000, our village model was chosen by the National Department of Housing (DOH) as the most appropriate model to represent South Africa, at the Africa ‘Solutions Towards Sustainable Development’ conference held at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in March 2000. This conference was in preparation for the ‘Global Urban 21 Conference’ held in Berlin, Germany in July. A beautiful scale model and multi-media presentation of the village was commissioned by the DOH for this occasion.

One of the important accomplishments thus far has been the sustained transfer of skills over the past five years that Tlholego residents have received in this innovative building technology. Residents have had the opportunity to live with this technology for an extended period of time and test it for meeting their expectations for a better quality of life. The TBS has stood up well to these expectations and Tlholego is now proud of having established the first competent building team in Southern Africa, capable of spreading the TBS within the broader community.

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Prototype 2 House

Prototype 3 house

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