The challenge of housing in Africa - how to unleash the construction sector, build affordable housing units and reduce the environmental footprint

The housing challenge is enormous: To fulfil SDG 11.1, 40 million units need to be supplied annually, 7.8 million units in Africa alone (Boanada-Fuchs, Heierli & Scrivener 2024)., while countries also have to address the challenges of sustainability and resilience. At the same time, the challenge is also a tremendous economic opportunity - a flourishing housing industry could employ millions of jobseekers, particularly in fast-urbanizing geographies.
EPFL and Skat have promising solutions for Africa. LC3 cement is a new method developed by the Swiss University EPFL to produce cement from calcined clay with much less CO2 emissions (-40 %) . Skat has implemented low-cost housing solutions with appealing designs for less than US$ 10,000 in Great Lakes Region, Kenya and other countries.
Africa’s population will grow by one billion in the coming 30 years and most of this growth will occur in cities. These cities, yet to be constructed, will require an enormous amount of resources. In order to make these urban environments future-proof, new typologies and materials are required to increase their affordability, sustainability, and resilience. The proposed event will address this challenge by presenting innovative materials, construction methods, rapidly scalable supply chain models, and policy interventions (roadmaps) to generate a debate on how to harmonize environmental, economic and social goals.
The event will be organized by EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) and Skat (Swiss Resource Centre and Consultancies for Development). EPFL has developed low carbon cement LC3 (Limestone calcined clay cement) that is now rolling out with large local LC3 cement plants in several countries. The solution is particularly appealing for Africa, where limestone is scarce and clay abundant. A new Technology Resource Centre for Africa was recently set up in Kenya at Meru University for Science and Technology. Skat is supporting private and public sector actors in establishing low carbon supply chains for affordable housing in in Africa’s major urbanization hotspots. Skat has proven methods and designs to overcome the affordability gap of housing in Africa.

The event will present and discuss the following topics:

a) LC3 Project: Pathways for CO2 reduction in the cement and concrete sectors by developing country roadmaps and local production of LC3 cement in Africa.
b) LC3 Project: Presenting the Social study “Low carbon cement – harmonizing environmental goals and housing needs”
c) Skat: Affordable construction methods and urban housing designs, supply chains and urban transformation models in Africa
d) Guest Panelists from key-partners from Africa, namely the major housing organizations.
The event will focus on the technical aspects of housing by presenting new insights on advances in material research and housing typologies.