SAFCOL Industrialization conference Subject; Benefits and applications of small scale modular buildings, in SA which contribute to sustainable development Modular building by Nature

Comfortable Living: Coming from Holland and being in the modular building industry for the last 25 years. 10 years experience in Modular building of ships like the Carnival line, Then 17 years ago arrived in Cape Town and never left, and for the last 8 years producing Modular houses under Perfect-Places and Greenpods. Modular building world wide covers about 40% of all buildings; Europe is approximately 70%, where South Africa is slowly picking up and estimated to be only 4%

Reduce the cost of living: Holland, a country the size of Kruger park, and the cost of building at least four times that in South Africa per square meter. So every square meter counts. Smaller buildings called Pods, reduce the impact on nature as well as use of the correct materials, Very well insulated, no cooling needed, and little heating, reducing the running cost. An average home in Cape Town is about 100m2, in Holland about 60m2.

Which markets: Starter homes, young couples, retirement, holiday homes are mostly used for permanent living Pods. Reaction to magazine articles and market research, exposed us to 1200 emails in a month, with many questions around modular construction and cost. From that, the idea grew to build Pods, minimal impact, minimal stress for the clients. Most people order turn key, one project, one supplier, one point of contact.

Modular built:

Turn around time: When an order is placed with Greenpods, reservation in production is made and materials list prepared. When Pods or houses are approved by council, and allocated production space, it takes between 2 -6 weeks to produce a turn key Pod. We often wait longer for council approvals or NHBRC approvals, then we can build it. We produce between the 2-3 average size Pods a month. 2018 the production will be increased to 3-4 Pods a month, 40% local market and 60% export markets.

Obstacles: Bank loans/mortgage The banks informed us that if we build more than 100 houses a year, they will write the program/software for home loans, based on modular building. Currently people get home loans of 60%-70% of the total cost of building, including the land.

Pushing the envelope: About four years ago I was asked to build turnkey units of 7 x 4 x 3 meter in Stellenbosch, in total 62 units, based on a plug and play setup, like used in the shipping industry, at the same time a project in Amsterdam took off. We managed to produce all 62 Pods in 4,5 months time, turnkey, stacked four stories high, including all fittings and finishes.

Future is Modular building Greenpods produces Pods/houses from: 15m2 to up to 400m2 how Single Pods, or in a combination of Pods. Turnkey, meaning 90%-95% factory finished. Keeping a high standard of finishes. Reducing weather impact on site, controlled environment to produce the Pods. Reducing time on site. Tiled floors, bathrooms, first fix and second fix installed, furniture and light fittings produced by Greenpods and installed at the factory in Cape Town.

Transport: Cape Town and surrounds. Nation wide, Zambia, Namibia, and shortly export out of Africa to Europe and America. Specially designed Pods, to fit in 40’ containers, supplied where needed.

NOTE: We had research done for us, about the embodied energy per building method, compared to brick and mortar under the Sans204, Modular building, reduces the embodied energy impact by 65% to 85%, that includes the carbon foot print. (from Cradle to gate)

Ground Screws: Imagine giant screws Very easy to install To reduce the foot print even further, reducing the amount of cement, and water used, we have decided to start using Ground Screws, later this year. Imagine giant screws Very easy to install Very accurate 5mm tolerance Long Live span Different screws for different soil types

Contact: Tracey@greenpods.co.za Call: 021 703 0588 Website: www.greenpods.co.za Only by training and educating our employees and partners in business, can we create more bandwidth for growth, training should be a weekly event not a burden! Thank you for your time and listening to my Story