Alphamead Unveils First–Ever Manufactured Buildings in Nigeria
Alphamead Group, a real estate solutions company, has inaugurated its Lekki Pearl Estate, which it described as the first-ever manufactured buildings in Nigeria.
At the unveiling of the estate in Lagos, recently, the Managing Director, Alphamead Group, Engr. Femi Akintunde stated that each unit was built in 10 days, and that experts were brought in from America to train Nigerians.
Akintunde said “It was envisaged as difficult to accomplish in this terrain, but if it could be attained in Brazil, Singapore, then we can achieve it here in Nigeria.
“We had to acquire only three of these sophisticated equipment, due to the difficulties in accessing funds in this climate and the huge capital involved. Notably, each of these equipment can produce 2000 houses and this is the only way we can solve housing problems in Nigeria,” he said.
“This is a major achievement for the organisation at this time. We believe that Nigerians need quality housing, which can only be delivered when effort and energy to ensure that specifications of space and all the installations are of the highest standards that will guarantee that quality,” he said.
Quality is one part, affordability is the other. “When we talk about affordability, it is both in terms of price and payment structure. So we have been able to come up with a very good payment plan that allows people to pay over a period of time and own a building,” he said.
The design of the building has taken into consideration, good infrastructure, right from the access road leading to the estate, the drains in the estate are all covered and of the right size. Since we’ve been having heavy flooding in Lagos, we have not one day experienced a flash flood in this estate, he said.
From the design stage, we had to contact experts who understood the quality of what is designed, and all facilities there meet the requirement of the number of people in the estate, he stated.
Akintunde stated that the space plan has been designed in a manner that suits the middle-income professionals, who are upwardly mobile. We have different types of apartments, ranging from 3 bedrooms, 4 bedrooms semidetached, 4 bedroom terraces, all very spacious, as well as the opportunity to enjoy the leisure of the environment, he said.
“Notably, we build with technology, Nigeria can only meet the demand of the 17million housing deficit not through the conventional building methodology, technology has to be used and we have invested heavily in that technology. We have done only 50 units out of the capacity of 2000 per equipment,” he said.
These 50 units is the first batch of the 1st phase, sitting on 1 hectare of land. The 2nd phase is 2 hectares to carry 70 units. The interesting thing is that the quality of the estate speaks for itself and a significant proportion of the 2nd phase has been sold, he said.
He said that one of the problems Nigerians have had over time is the promises people make and been able to fulfil it, problems with developers and so, but we have been able to weather the storm despite the challenges in the economic environment, lack of finance, unemployment of clients, reduction of purchasing power of Nigerians, we decided that all these will not deter us, and we will deliver this estate.
This estate has generated employment for people, we re-skilled them as we brought in experts from America that trained them in the use of technology we employed to build, and now we have Nigerians that can proudly say we know how to use the technology. It is no longer news that here in Nigeria, we can build in 10days, and are ready to partner with desired states which can provide sufficient enabling environment for us to build for them, he said.
“For things to change, we need to change the narratives, which we have been able to attain at Alphamead. From the beginning of this year, we changed from being a Professional Facilities Management Company alone to a total Real Estate Solutions Company,” he stated.