Profitable investments in India

The Indian market has an annual need for 8 to 10 million houses. This is a huge number in this rapidly developing economic giant that has more than 1.2 billion inhabitants. It is an almost impossible task to satisfy this demand because of a lack of know-how and capacity, and a shortage of specialists in the construction industry.

		Every 2,4 hours: one house rolls off the assembly line

Holland India Housing (HIH) a Dutch - Indian initiative, develops and builds houses, schools and offices in a factory according to the principles of the car industry. The concrete houses roll off the assembly line, complete with conduits, modular kitchen, and bathroom, etc. By Indian standards, the houses are of an unprecedented quality and at extremely competitive prices compared to the traditional, local construction methods.

Start in South India

Architect Jo Coenen designs HIH townships

Partners in Holland India Housing BV include the well-known architect and former Chief Government Architect Prof. Jo Coenen, as well as the renowned German manufacturer Rekers Beton. HIH is an initiative of Mr. Wim Vaessen, former partner at Deloitte and his Dutch business partner Mr. Bert Reubsaet.

		At (ex) Chief Minister Shri H.D. Kumaraswamy Iva Konig, an architect at Jo Coenen & Co., discusses progress of the plans with the Prime Minister.

On the initiative of Mr. Bert Reubsaet, who has contacts with Indian authorities and politicians, Jo Coenen developed the master plan for Bidadi, a satellite city to be developed south-west of Bangalore. The experience gained during the research and development of the master plan for Bidadi led to the idea of building houses in a different, more efficient manner and eventually to the establishment of HIH.

Holland India Housing offers a solution to the quality and capacity problems in the Indian residential construction industry

As a result of the huge demand for houses, there is an enormous shortage of skilled construction workers. People are plucked from the countryside, so to speak, and turned into masons or plasterers from one day to the next, with a resulting quality to match. In many cases, there is a lack of the most basic equipment, such as construction cranes, concrete mills, and also simple shovels. Hundreds of people are frequently employed on an average Indian construction site, and the site management does not often know what many of these workers do. A lack of logistics means that many activities are done in the wrong sequence, wastage and rework costs are very high and the construction takes an extremely long time to be completed. The construction time for a simple house can be anything from 24 to 36 months, resulting in poor quality and high interest losses for both the purchaser and project developer.

Indian consumers are given considerably more housing comfort for less money.

Given the enormous need for affordable housing, there are huge opportunities for profitable investments in the factory production of houses and the development of residential construction projects based on these houses.

Customers prefer living in houses made from stone or concrete, as all other materials are considered temporary. Therefore, the development of HIH’s prefab housing concept was based on the use of concrete as a building material. Concrete lasts a long time and requires little maintenance during its life cycle. There is complete freedom of choice when it comes to the outside wall cladding, which makes it possible to adapt the house to local surroundings. Most of the houses in India are plastered on the outside, which can easily be used for the HIH Concept. HIH insulates the outside walls with EPS, which can then be finished with quality plastering. Of course bricks or any other material can also be chosen for outside wall cladding.

A mediocre quality and waste of expensive construction materials are the consequence of using unskilled workers. These problems are easily solved using the production method offered by Holland India Housing.

The production of the concrete shell as well as the complete finishing of the houses in a factory offers several advantages

A production concept, inspired by automotive assembly, allows for a constant output of completely finished housing units at a constant quality and cost. Raw materials can be used more efficiently resulting in environment friendly production and low wastage. Working in a factory under constant conditions also enables construction to be carried out by far fewer workers. The HIH concept is suitable for both economy model houses for people in low income groups, as well as for completely finished town houses, apartments, villas, schools and offices.

HIH has developed usage concepts for several target groups, with an emphasis on houses in urban areas, which can be built in very large numbers in a comparably short period of time.

India is experiencing a tremendous rate of urbanization. There is therefore an extremely high demand for houses in urban areas. One may not expect it, but land is scarce in India and therefore relatively expensive. Many houses in large cities therefore have a price level which is comparable to Western prices. HIH’s vision is to therefore use available land sparingly.

The starting point of HIH is to develop town houses, which use space as economically as apartments, but which are still situated on their own piece of land. By building the houses back to back, efficient use is made of the available space and optimum use can be made of the FSI available while still providing wide public areas. In addition, the fact that the houses only have one open side allows for an enormous saving in construction costs, without affecting housing comfort. The houses allow enough light inside due to their open front, whilst the staircase, toilets, bathroom and storage areas can be found at the back of the house.

Despite a relatively limited land use of 600 sq ft, the plinth area can run up to 2400 sq ft; sufficient to split up (temporarily) into commercial spaces combined with one or two apartments.

The living units can be stacked up to three layers. Combining one or more units offers a considerable variation in usage. From small one person apartments to large family houses, as well as shops, schools etc.