Access to affordable housing is a global challenge. In the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa the projection of the deficit in housing for 2007 alone was up to 300,000. The construction in Addis Ababa is on the boom and there is a lot of real estates being developed. Moreover, 80 percent of the real estate in Addis Ababa is purchased by high-income residents and Ethiopians from the diaspora. The high prices of buildings and houses are beyond the financial reach of the majority of the resi-dents. 80 percent of the city population is classified as low income and live in crowded houses with inadequate sanitation facilities.

To tackle this challenge the Ethiopian government has delivered over 200,000 new houses to citi-zens through its Integrated Housing Development Program (IHDP), this puts the country at the forefront of affordable housing production in Africa. EiABC is working hand in hand with Addis Ababa city administration and with its partners Cordaid, Woreda 01 and WeLoveTheCity by developing a new urban development strategy for the Lideta neighbourhood. The proposed development strategy is based on three pillars which are innovating and green, upscaling and showcase and reinvesting and everyone stays. These pillars are based on five core steps that should
guarantee that people can stay in their neighbourhood and have the chance to improve their living conditions in housing, work, food supply, health, education, security and sport.

The Association of Ethiopian Architects (AEA) annual convention,17th edition was held on 28th and 29th of August 2015, at Sheraton hotel, in Addis Ababa. The convention proved to be the single largest gathering of professionals of the building industry in the country. It was featured by a vibrant exhibition from representatives of companies. institutions and organizations of the building sector, insightful panel discussion, transforming ideas from professionals and the forging of new partnerships.

The highlight of the event was the Gala dinner in which Mr. Joachim Dieter, the Scientific Director of EiABC, gave a keynote speech to the stakeholders of the building sector. The speech was followed by singing of an agreement between EiABC and AEA regarding life long learning/continued education. In his speech Mr. Joachim emphasised on the importance of collaboration between the Ministry of Urban Development Housing and Construction, the AEA, the Master Plan Office and the EiABC. Together these institutions design cities. The director also highlighted the recent success of EiABC in its staff capacity building program, more than 25 of academic staff are now doing their PhD and are expected to return with success to assume their place in the institute as assistant professors, take over responsibilities in numerous chair-holder or director positions, being academicians and scientists.

Left to right- Mr Joachim Dieter, scientific director of EiABC and Ato Wondewosen Demerew, President of AEA  

The closing ceremony of the first ever summer school of EiABC was held on September 5, 2015 in the compound of the institute. The program achieved its aims of giving international exposure and wide network to Ethiopian students, teaching vernacular techniques of doing things and giving an enjoyable learning experience. The diverse group of students who attended the program shared fresh ideas, created networks and showcased their work on the closing ceremony of the program.

Ato Belay Getachew, the Director of Undergraduate Program of EiABC, closed the ceremony by giving a special appreciation to all the chair holders of EiABC who supported in making this program qualitative as well as the administrative staff who organised it. He highlighted the deep gratitude of the institute for the continuous and strong support of GiZ, the German Agency for International Cooperation, in giving material and financial support for the Development of the Ethiopian Bamboo sector.

This program will be implemented annually, for the next year EiABC plans to increase the diversity of students and the number of courses that will be offered including courses that are only available in EiABC with in Ethiopia.

Award at the 2015 ASOCSACONFERENCE

Picture taken from UKZN homepage

The 9th Built Environment Conference of the Association of Schools of Construction of Southern Africa (ASOCSA) was held from 2-4 August, 2015, in Durban, South Africa at the University of Kwazulu-Natal’s (UKZN) Howard College campus. The Conference attracted researchers, academics and project managers from the full range of built environment disciplines, including engineering, architecture, quantity surveying, and construction in South Africa and internationally.

Of the more than 50 papers presented at the conference, 15 were authored and co-authored by PropDev researchers and postgraduate students.The Emerald Best Paper Award went to Mr Denamo Addissie - a UKZN PhD candidate from Ethiopia, and his supervisor, Professor Theo Haupt.