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fast steel for remote pacific island

Canberra based NASH member, Eco-Villa, has fabricated and transported steel-framed housing for the Indigenous community of Malo, Vanuatu. Eco-Villa components are designed so that unskilled labour, with minimal guidance, can erect the structure with just a jack hammer and a drill. The Vanuatu Eco-Villas were erected in just 6 days and it is anticipated that the Eco-Villa team will be kept busy with a list of similar projects both internationally and within Australia.

The community benefits to be gained from an Eco-Villa are both short and long term.  In many situations concerning aid projects, the community is encouraged to build their own Eco-Villas (under supervision), thereby developing a sense of ownership and forming a connection with their project, whilst greatly reducing labour costs.  Steel-framed and cyclone and earthquake resistant, the construction of the two, two-storey Eco-Villas of one school and one dormitory “just mushroomed out of the jungle on the island of Malo in under six days,” as observed by local, Pastor William David.  The Eco-Villa and the Malo team proved that steel framing is workable in the jungle with no services, electricity or water.  They could be located almost anywhere in the world, constructed with unskilled labour to provide instant termite and rot resistant shelter.

The benefits gained from such an exercise are numerous.  Not only do the people that are immediately involved in the project gain new skills, but a sense of satisfaction and community belonging is also obtained, which often reflects a sense of greater overall community participation and connection.  Eco-Villa provides communities with something they can be proud of and will ultimately respect resulting in a more successful outcome.

Builder: Vaiduhu Community with assistance from the Eco-Villa team

Fabricato: Eco-Villa, Hume ACT