Profitable investments in India

The Indian market has an annual need for 8 to 10 million houses. A huge number in this rapidly developing economic giant with more than 1.1 billion inhabitants. An almost impossible task to satisfy this demand because of the lack of know-how and capacity and the construction industry.

House production based on car production

		Every 3 hours one house is coming off the assembly line

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

Factory between Chennai and Bangalore

Architect Jo Coenen designs HIH townships

Partners in Holland India Housing BV are among others the well-known architect and former Architect of State Prof. Jo Coenen, as well as the renowned German manufacturer Rekers Beton. HIH is an initiative of Mr Wim Vaessen, former partner at Deloitte, the Indian entrepreneur Mr. T.N. Kalaimani and are Dutch matter partner Mr. Bert Reubsaet.

		At (ex) Chief minister Shri H.D. Kumaraswamy. Architect Iva Konig of Jo Coenen & Co. discusses the progress of the plans with the prime minister.

On the initiative of Mr. Bert Reubsaet, who has contacts with Indian governments and politicians, Jo Coenen developed the master plan for Bidadi, a satellite city to be developed south-west of Bangalore. Bidadi is the first of 5 new satellite cities, which must be built in a short period of time. According to the planning, Bidadi will be 8 times as large as Almere, the satellite city of Amsterdam, and eventually offer housing to more than 1 million inhabitants. The experience gained during the research and the development of the master plan for Bidadi led to the idea to build houses in a different, more efficient manner and eventually to the establishing 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 an enormous lack of skilled construction workers. People are picked from the country-side so to speak and from one day to the next bombarded to mason or plasterer. The resulting quality is accordingly. In many cases the most basic equipment, such as construction cranes, concrete mills, but also simple shovels are missing. On an average Indian construction site frequently hundreds of people are employed, and for many of these workers site management often does not know what they do. Because of a lack of logistics many activities are done in the wrong sequence and cost of waste and rework is very high and the duration of the construction is extremely long. The construction time for a simple house is often 24 up to 36 months causing poor quality and high interest losses for both the purchaser and project developer.

A moderate quality and waste of expensive construction material are the consequence of using unskilled workers. These problems are easily solved using the production method of Holland India Housing.

The Indian consumer receives considerably more housing comfort for less money.

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

Customers prefer to live in a house of stone/concrete, as all other material is considered as temporary. Therefore, concrete as building material was the starting point for the development of the prefab housing concept of HIH. Concrete has a good longevity and low maintenance cost during the life cycle. The choice for the outside wall finishing is entirely free, providing the opportunity to adapt the house to the local surroundings. Most of the houses in India are provided with outside plastering, which can be easily used for the HIH Concept. HIH insulates the outside walls with EPS which can also be finished with quality plastering. Of course also bricks or any other material can be chosen for outside wall finishing.

The production of the concrete casco, as well as the complete finishing of the houses in a factory has a lot of advantages

Because of a production concept, inspired by automotive assembly, there is a constant output of entirely finished housing units with a constant quality and cost. Raw materials can be used more efficiently resulting in environment friendly production and low waste. Working in a factory under constant conditions also allows construction with considerably less workers. The HIH concept is suitable for both economy model houses for the Low Income Group people, as well as for entirely finished town houses, apartments, villas, schools and offices.

All conduits for gas, water, electricity and ventilation are attached to the steel reinforcement before the body of the units is casted. After a curing time of 7 hours the finishing can be started. Kitchen, toilet, bathroom, windows etc. are assembled dependent of the wishes of the customer. Several units can be combined to to houses or apartment complexes. Of course the HIH concept is also very suitable for the construction of schools, offices etc.

HIH has developed usage concepts several target groups, however the emphasis is on houses in urban areas, which can be built in very large numbers in a comparable short period of time.

In India an enormous urbanization is going on. Thus the demand for houses in the urban areas is enormous. One may not expect it, but land is scarce in India and therefore relatively expensive. Many houses in large cities have therefore a price level which is comparable to Western prices. In the vision of HIH it is therefore advisable to use available land economically.

Starting point of HIH the development of town houses which use space as economically as apartments but are still situated on its own piece of land. By building the houses back to back the available space is used efficiently and the FSI available can be used optimally while still providing wide public areas. Also the fact that the houses have only one open side, provides an enormous saving in construction costs, without affecting the housing comfort. The houses have enough light inside due to the open front, whereas the staircase, toilets, bathroom and storage are in the back of the house.

Despite a relatively limited land use of 600 sft, the plinth area can run up to 2400 sft. Sufficient to possibly split up (temporarily) in commercial spaces combined with one or two apartments.

The livingunits can be stacked up to 3 layers. By combining one or more units a large variation in usage arises. From small one person apartments to large family houses, but also shops, schools etc.