SA Affordable Housing September - October 2016 // Issue: 60 | Page 11

New ceilings for
old ‘RDP’ houses



The City of Cape Town is embarking on the
next phase of its ambitious ceiling retrofit
project, which aims to warm up old statesubsidised houses that were previously
constructed without ceilings. R60 million is
earmarked for this phase.







T

o date, some 4 500 ceilings
have been installed across the
Cape Town metro at a cost of
about R83-million. This has also
included the fixing of roof leaks and
the installation of safer ceiling
lighting.
The City’s Mayoral Committee
Member for Human Settlements,
Councillor Benedicta van Minnen has
visited some of the beneficiaries in
Vrygrond where about R26.2-million
has been spent on the completion of
1 250 ceilings. “One of our aims with
this project was to warm up these
homes and, from the feedback, it
seems that this has been
accomplished,” says Van Minnen.
“We are starting with public
participation for the next phase of
this project shortly and we’ve
earmarked a further R60-million in
areas across the metro.”
“It is hoped that we can continue to
alleviate some of the discomfort that
the beneficiaries of old statesubsidised houses – commonly
referred to as RDP houses – have had
to endure over the years. Our
contractors and staff have performed
exceptionally well and have mostly
been markedly ahead of schedule,”
said Van Minnen.
Having to live without a ceiling has
caused much discomfort for
residents who have been affected by
the poor thermal performance of the
homes, as well as condensation
which gives rise to damp conditions
and inferior internal air quality.



NEWS



General Vrygrond project archive photo:
a ceiling being retrofitted.

Between 1994 and 2005, the
majority of state-subsidised housing
units were constructed without
insulated ceilings and
weatherproofing. This was because
the then national government
subsidy did not make provision for
this. After 2005, the housing subsidy
was increased to provide ceilings,
weatherproofing and partitioned
bedrooms. In Cape Town alone, it is
estimated that there are
approximately 40 000 statesubsidised homes that do not have
ceilings.

Phase 2 includes the areas of Chris
Nissen Park, Gordon’s Bay, Heinz
Park, Macassar, Phumlani, Silver City
and Sir Lowry’s Pass Village. The
public participation process for
these areas are commencing soon, as
buy-in and support from the
beneficiaries are vital.

SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2016








 









Ceiling retrofitting has been
completed in Eureka, Kalkfontein,
Broadlands (Strand) and Lwandle,
Vrygrond and Wesbank.

AFFORDABLE
SA HOUSING



9

Find a supplier
www.terraforce.com

Tel: [phone]