For many Ugandan families, owning a decent home remains an expensive dream due to the rising cost of building materials. Despite saving for years, households struggle to construct homes. Kaneene Leslie, a Quantity Surveying graduate from Makerere University Kampala, proposes a solution using locally available soils and agricultural waste to produce affordable building materials.
Leslie's innovation, CoolBricks, utilizes bio-stabilised earth bricks to reduce reliance on conventional cement and avoid energy-intensive firing. This approach aims to make building materials cheaper and more environmentally friendly. By leveraging local resources, Leslie hopes to bring down building costs without compromising the strength, durability, and comfort of homes.
The Housing Finance Bank Zimba Challenge provides an opportunity for Leslie to test CoolBricks in practical applications and assess its potential to address Uganda's housing needs. The innovation targets reductions of up to 50 per cent in construction costs and up to 90 per cent in carbon emissions. Collaboration with Makerere University and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has helped Leslie refine CoolBricks.
To ensure the bricks' strength, durability, and consistency, Leslie has tested different soil compositions and biopolymer formulations. He emphasizes that an innovation must offer more than an attractive idea; it must work under practical conditions, considering cost constraints, material limits, and human behavior. Leslie's work involves decentralised production hubs to bring manufacturing closer to construction sites and local markets.
The project aims to create jobs, support youth skills development, and open opportunities for small businesses. CoolBricks could also provide an additional market for agricultural waste, connecting agriculture and construction while creating economic opportunities for farmers, producers, and local suppliers. Leslie must establish that the bricks can be produced consistently, supplied reliably, and sold at a competitive price.
Meeting applicable building requirements and earning the trust of contractors, developers, and homeowners will be crucial for CoolBricks' success. Leslie sees potential in arrangements such as rent-to-own schemes, possibly developed in partnership with institutions like Housing Finance Bank. Such arrangements could complement cheaper construction materials by allowing eligible households to work towards ownership through manageable payments.
Leslie's innovation explores how locally available materials, appropriate construction methods, community-based production, and accessible financing might work together to make decent housing attainable for more people. His advice to aspiring innovators is to begin with a problem that people genuinely face, understand their needs, and develop a solution that can work in their everyday lives. Ultimately, Leslie aims to make better use of Uganda's resources to address one of its most persistent challenges: access to decent, affordable housing.
Key points
- Using locally available soils and agricultural waste to produce bio-stabilised earth bricks could reduce construction costs and carbon emissions.
