Advent of container homes in Nigeria

But with rising cost of building materials, difficult process of accessing land for housing and hardly a structured mortgage sector, achieving sustainable Nigeria housing seems not feasible in 10 years.In fact, the low and middle income earners are the worst hit as property developers prefer building for the high end markets. They often site harsh […]

But with rising cost of building materials, difficult process of accessing land for housing and hardly a structured mortgage sector, achieving sustainable Nigeria housing seems not feasible in 10 years.
In fact, the low and middle income earners are the worst hit as property developers prefer building for the high end markets. They often site harsh business conditions like huge cost of funds, even at that the credits are short term tenured, expensive land and high cost of construction. Thus to break even and remain in business, the developers say it only makes economic sense to serve those who have capacity to rent,  lease or buy the properties and pay immediately.
Government too is losing appetite to invest in mass housing for the low and middle income earners. To demonstrate its waning appetite to invest in housing, government has been wooing the private sector to step up investments in mass housing. Government went further to launch the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) Plc, a Public Private Partnership arrangement between the Federal Government of Nigeria and private sector to develop affordable housing for Nigerians. NMRC was incorporated on 24th of June 2013 as Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company Plc.
Among other functions, the NMRC is to encourage financial institutions to increase their mortgage lending by providing them with long term funding; increase the maturity structure of mortgage loans and assist reduce mortgage rates; and increase the efficiency of mortgage lending by taking a lead role in proposing changes to the enabling environment for mortgage lending as well as by standardising mortgage lending practices of financial institutions.
But this sort of PPP approach hasn’t firmed up yet thus the housing crunch bites even harder.
Thus the government at some point also called on the private sector to be more creative and innovative in addressing Nigeria’s housing problem by introducing cost effective and environmentally friendly housing solutions.
A project development firm, Tempo Housing Nigeria (THN) seemed to have heeded this call and is introducing Container Building as one of the solutions to Nigeria’s housing needs. This solution has been used in several countries including Netherlands, Australia and Haiti.
The solution is designed to transform shipping containers into flexible and affordable homes that would replace the traditional block building method. THN is a unique partnership between Tempo Housing Global – a leading the Netherlands, and Ampersam network associates – a Lagos-based project development company is also active here.
Managing Partner, Dele Ijaiya-Oladipo explained the innovation to our correspondent via email that “the company buys used containers from shipping lines and agents at ports and the technology has been refined and tested to suit the Nigerian environment. Tempohousing units have been used in harsher climates from Australia to Haiti.
He said the Container Houses is affordable as it is 30-40 percent cheaper than concrete build and three times faster.
Information contained in some documents provided by the managing director of the company suggested that Tempohousing Netherlands specializes in the manufacture and design of flexible and affordable homes using standard ISO shipping containers.
On the other hand, Tempohousing Nigeria (THN) is an arm of Tempohousing that oversees all their operations in Nigeria and it is an emerging company incorporated to meet the demand for affordable housing in Nigeria, by leveraging its technology and expertise to create a Nigerian tailored solution to the housing problem.
THN it said has leveraged decades of technology pioneered in Amsterdam and tailored the solution for the housing crisis in Nigeria and West Africa.

He explained, “THN aims to service the student housing, staff housing and ultimately the residential sectors. Tempohousing Nigeria is a joint venture between Tempohousing Global and Ampersam Network Associates. Tempohousing Nigeria was set up to focus on three main markets: the staff housing market (for oil & gas, mining and infrastructure concerns), student housing market and the residential market. The versatility of the solution allows it to engage in a plethora of other markets.
“Our solution is quick to build, easy to maintain, fire proof, sound proof and most importantly affordable. We aim to deliver a 30 percent minimal cost saving on same structure built using conventional concrete. Cost savings delivered through time saved on building ensure our clients save on financing and development costs.”
Tempohousing units have been supplied and are used in the Netherlands, Sweden, USA, Croatia, Japan as well as hotter climates of Pakistan, India, Nigeria and Brazil.
“Each unit is carefully modified using a well tested system to ensure hotter climates are adequately catered for. Our team consists of experienced architects, engineers and project managers with technical supervision from our Holland hob on all projects,” he noted.
The snag
However, professionals in the building sector are of the view that container houses may not really help.
Mekson Okoro who is Principal Partner M.I. Okoro & Associates, said, “The container houses may be like portacabins. Firstly, that type of housing solution may be cheap but it may not be environmentally friendly because of our tropical weather condition. Our weather is not like Europe or America where those types of houses are fashionable.
“Secondly, we’re somewhat careless in this environment. Our standards and even life style makes our homes prone to fire. Thus, container buildings may be prone to fire.
“Thirdly, with our level of insecurity, bandits can easily break into those types of houses and steal valuables or maim inhabitants. So I seriously doubt if the solution is good for us.”