By Nangamso Mabindla
18 June 2004

THE construction of an award-winning housing complex in Buffalo City's impoverished township of Duncan Village is to begin in September.

The development of the complex - which will consist of affordable, high-density houses - is a joint venture of the Buffalo City municipality, the Nelson Mandela Metropole and the Swedish Development Agency.

Last year both municipalities and the development agency issued a challenge to architects from South Africa and Sweden to come up with new design concepts for good quality, high-density housing in the province.

According to Lindelwa Maneli, the project coordinator for Buffalo City's housing department, Duncan Village was earmarked as the development site.

"The winning design will be built as a pilot project to showcase and promote high-density housing in areas identified through the BCM spatial development framework process for affordable high-density housing," Maneli said.

The design criteria were challenging: the houses had to be affordable but of good quality.

The winning design by a Swedish architect, Per Winström, was of a complex consisting of two-storey units intended to be sold to families, rental units, a care facility for orphaned children, business premises and communal amenities.

One such complex will be built in Duncan Village and a second in Motherwell, in the Nelson Mandela Metropole.

Sithembiso Tyilo, the councillor responsible for development planning in Buffalo City, said: "I'm excited with this new concept. This will showcase high-density housing to our people. We really need to develop places like Duncan Village."

Tyilo added: "Even though these are affordable houses they'll still be of good quality; the units will be built of concrete masonry with galvanised, corrugated-steel roofing. They'll be able to withstand any type of weather."

He thanked the South African and Swedish Institutes of Architects for the more than 100 entries the competition drew.

"The real winners were the people of our impoverished areas."