Housing in Southern Africa November 2015

Housing

Accommodation for

accommodation in South Africa is in a dire state. The knock on effect of poor accommodation is directly linked to the high failure rate at universities; “By creating optimally designed residences, the pass rate can be in- creased from 60 to 80%. Simply put, by not providing adequate housing, we’re setting up our learners to fail. The ramifications are huge,” says Schooling. The problem for universities is that the cost of student accommodation is very expensive. Using green build- ing practices, STAG African is able to reduce building time by 40% and the costs associatedwith it dramatically. At universities, where cost ultimately is the deciding factor, sustainable, environmental building is an obvious economic choice. STAG’s commitment to green de- velopment is one of the company’s biggest advantages; “In the near future it will be the preferred way of building. Our aim is to be known as the most innovative green company in Africa, not just in the student ac- commodation sector, but for all our projects.” With this in mind, STAG is already developing skills in its local areas of operation to prepare for amore envi- ronmentally aware construction sec- tor; an initiative which fits perfectly within the company’s encompassing philosophy of enriching lives. “Not enough is being done at the moment to promote internal development through green skills and green jobs. We are committed

S TAG African is leading the way in the student accommodation sector. The company changed their company direction in 2008 due to the property crisis and recession. Managing Director and founder of the student accommodation group, STAG African, John Schooling said: “Developers were crashing right left and centre and we found ourselves in some serious trouble; we had to in- novate in order to survive. During that time we identified an opportunity to develop, build, operate and finance student residences.” With university budgets facing major constraints and cutbacks from national government, student

The growth of green building in South Africa trumps that of established sustainability building regions such as Europe, Australia, United States, United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Brazil. This was confirmed in a World Green Building Trends survey run by US-based McGraw-Hill Construction.

November 2015 March 2014