Concerned about the extent of housing shortage in Lagos State, with the demands on increase, a new housing provider, Messrs EchoStone Nigeria, in conjuction with the Ibile Holdings and the Lagos state government, is set to deliver 50,000 two-bedroom apartment to be spread across the state for a period of time.
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Already, the firm has kick-started a 250 units scheme in Idele community, Badagry local government area of Lagos, with 200 units earmarked for construction in Imota and Ayobo respectively.
Codenamed 4-in-14 days, the technology employed is capable of producing four units of two-bedroom apartment in 14 days.
In essence, the technology is quite different from conventional building methods that take much longer time and processes before a product is delivered.
The details of the project were unfolded at the ground breaking ceremony that took place within Lagos Technical and Vocational School premises, Agidingbi.
The event also witnessed the demonstration of prototype construction of the ongoing housetypes at Peridot Parkland in Idale, Badagry.
Facilities to be provided include paved stone road networks, water and power supply, sewage treatment facility, security among others.
On completion, each units will attracts price tag of N9 million, which payment modality is yet to be made public.
EchoStone is deploying an innovative technology that allows rapid and scalable construction beginning with 250 units of two bedroom detached bungalows in Idale Badagry LGA.
The firm is expected to construct a total of 2,000 housing units annually. And upon completion of the Badagry project, attention will shift to Ayobo in Alimosho LGA and Imota in Ikorodu LGA.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, EchoStone’s Global Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, Mr. Anthony Recchia, stressed the need for industrialisation of housing.
According to him, rapid urbanisation and population explosion in Lagos required radical construction technology to bridge the huge housing deficit of over three million in the state.
“However, its observed that construction had not evolved in the last 50 years, but in this case, industrialisation would bridge huge demand gap, with the mortgage institutions could effectively drive the supply.
“What we really need is the industrialisation of labour, along with the technology to create the asset which then produces the mortgages,’’ Recchia said.
He said that four housing units would be finished on the Badagry site every 14 days, noting that, the entire project on the 10 hectares would be completed within three months.
He also emphasise the need for training of local artisans, which he said has started. This is to ensure skill transfer to residents of Lagos, which simply means that the project is already creating jobs in the state.
“Mostly what I see on the job side is that it is gender neutral; of men and women working together with women running the machines and helping with the form-works,’’ he said.
EchoStone Founder and President; Business Development, Mr. Ander Lindquist, while making a slide presentation of the technology said that the formworks used eliminated time wastage and allowed opportunity for construction of a minimum of eight homes daily from ground to carcass.
Lindquist said that the technology also provided 7.5 percent lower temperature in the homes; thereby reducing the need for air conditioners.
He said that electrical and plumbing fittings alongside other accessories were done simultaneously with the construction; thereby ensuring durability of the facilities for over 50 years without maintenance.
He also emphasised that Peridot Parkland was designed to include facilities like green areas, power supply, street lights, sewage reticulation, carparks, among others.
The Lagos official, present at the event said that the project was part of the “global mission“ of Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration to construct 20,000 houses in all parts of the state in four years.
The Commissioner for Housing, Prince Gbolahan Lawal said that the government was beginning with the 2,000 to be constructed by EchoStone, while other developers would complete the figure to 20,000 housing units in four years to bridge the over three million housing deficit in the state.
“This is like an economic revolution because whoever that has a home, has almost everything; and with that home, you can use that home for collateral,’’ he said.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary, Executive Secretary, Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board, Mrs Omolara Erogbogbo, thanked the state government and the firm for its choice of constructing a prototype in the school.
Erogbogbo said that the skill transfer to the students of the centre was also important in driving change in construction methods in the nation.
Homebase Mortgage Bank, one of the mortgage banks providing support for purchase of the 64 square meters two bedroom detached bungalow.
‘The EchoStone 625 Machine is a mobile, computerized, in-situ concrete-factory-on-wheels that produces high-quality, consistent, and continuous monolithic pours (not batch) on location in almost any environment.
“The Machine can produce, depending on density, concrete at a rate equivalent to that of five standard concrete trucks, or 25m3 per hour, and has the capacity to deliver concrete continuously and consistently over 60 meters vertically and 200 meters horizontally.