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PropTech, iLima, partners with Royal HaskoningDHV SA to deliver affordable housing solutions

iLima, a SaaS AI PropTech company specializing in the construction of affordable housing, has signed a Mutual Cooperation Agreement with Royal HaskoningDHV South Africa to accelerate the delivery of sustainable smart villages and affordable housing in South Africa and beyond.

We see immediate opportunities in South Africa where both iLima and Royal HaskoningDHV have well-established ‘feet on the ground’ as well as excellent existing business relationships. With a current backlog of over 70 million homes in Africa, the need is huge to leapfrog traditional inadequate solutions by offering the new AI-driven Sustainable Smart Village solution,” says Karsten Popp, CEO of ILima.

Our joint solution delivers the village at lower cost, shorter time, improved quality and better sustainability and transparency, all while involving the community in decisions right from the start.”

The provision of housing is extremely slow, owing to disjointed planning and poor communication between the many stakeholders involved in projects. According to the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF) in South Africa, over 2.4 million households were still registered on the National Housing Needs Register in 2023. Further to this, housing development planning is often myopic, focusing only on the structural elements and not on the environmental and sociological needs of the new community.

We have been working with communities in South Africa for over 100 years to optimise public services, connect with citizens and create safer, healthier and better places to live and work. We look forward to bringing our expertise to the table to work with iLima to address the critical housing crisis and improve the quality of life for all,” says Bonga Ntuli, Director of Strategy for Royal HaskoningDHV South Africa.

The partnership aims to sympathetically, and with the latest technology, address elements such as data management, stakeholder planning, climate resilience, designing with nature, access to livelihoods, and community planning.

Resilient housing components include the use of wetlands for water purification and flood protection, as well as rainwater harvesting and reuse, to address water shedding, activities to form a sense of community, and landscaping to reduce heat and provide dignity.

Further to this, planning should include interactive software that enables the various elements of low-cost housing design to be coordinated effectively, not only by the planning, designing, and financing stakeholders, but also by the community members themselves. This should not only reduce the time taken to provide communities with housing, but also provide community members with design and functionality options, to facilitate a sense of inclusion and ownership.

The signing of the Mutual Co-operation Agreement marks the beginning of a long-term collaboration with both companies dedicated to driving sustainable change