Category: Uncategorized

If you’re curious about building in timber, you’ve probably already run into someone at a braai who told you it can’t be done, won’t last, and no bank will touch it. Let me address that directly — and then tell you why timber is one of the most underutilised and underappreciated options in South African construction.

The Questions People Ask Me

Can I get a bond on a timber house?

Yes. ABSA certainly provides bonds. One or two other institutions require an extra hoop or two, but finance is available. We’ve helped clients through the application process — it’s not the obstacle people imagine it to be.

Can I get insurance?

Yes, without difficulty. This is not a problem.

Can I get municipal approval?

Yes. Timber construction must comply with the same regulations as conventional brick construction — the National Building Regulations apply equally — but approval is entirely achievable. Approved drawings, engineering sign-off, all of it. Formal, not informal.

Is it cheaper?

Not necessarily — and that’s not really the point. Cost depends heavily on your finishes, your fittings, your taps. Timber construction won’t be more expensive than brick, and it could well be cheaper, but if that’s your primary motivation you may be missing the more compelling reasons.

Is it faster to build?

Yes, significantly. The potential for off-site pre-manufacture means that components can be prepared in a workshop or at a supplier and assembled on site quickly and efficiently, often with nothing more than hand tools and a battery drill.

Is it better for the environment?

Clearly. Timber has a fraction of the embodied energy of brick, concrete, or steel — all of which require enormous amounts of heat and energy to manufacture. Beyond carbon, timber construction has a far lighter footprint on sensitive sites. No heavy concrete mixers, no constant brick deliveries, minimal ground disturbance. On environmentally sensitive sites, this matters enormously.

Is it DIY-friendly?

Very much so. The tools and skills required to build in timber are widely available — on YouTube, at your local hardware warehouse, from experienced tradespeople. If you want to get your own hands involved in the process, timber gives you far more opportunity to do that than conventional construction.

Timber Is Not Foreign to Construction — It’s Already Everywhere

One thing I want to clear up: timber construction is not some exotic alternative to conventional building. It’s already all around you. Roof trusses are timber. Louvre screens are timber. Flooring is timber. Joinery, cupboards, kitchen fittings — timber is ubiquitous in conventional construction. Our industry already knows how to work with it. The skills are there. The materials are there. Very good quality timber in all the varieties you’d need is available in the South African market.

What I’m advocating for is taking that further — walls, floors, and structure all in timber — and doing so formally, with approved plans, engineering, insurance and finance in place.

In the United States and Canada, this is simply how houses are built. Brick construction there is the exception rather than the rule, because timber offers efficiencies that brick simply cannot match. We haven’t fully made that shift in South Africa, but there’s no reason we shouldn’t.

Where Timber Really Comes Into Its Own

Two situations stand out.

The first is remote construction. I’ve worked on projects in deeply remote locations — including work we did on the Baviaanskloof Letterbosch Trail, half an hour’s drive from the nearest gravel road, in rugged terrain that would make conventional construction a logistical nightmare. Pre-manufactured timber panels and components, assembled on site with light hand tools. That project went through full municipal approval, and was subject to the conditions of an Environmental Impact Assessment, as it sits within a World Heritage Site. It can be done — formally, rigorously, beautifully. Those projects won awards from the South African Institute of Architects. I’m proud of that.

The second is DIY self-build. At Pebble Spring Farm, where I live, my daughter and I built a small timber structure in the forest — primarily ourselves, with simple technology. The foundations are 400x400mm concrete pier pads, available from any nursery, set in pits that anyone can dig. Treated poles, tech screws, engineered and signed off. Floor structure of 150x50mm beams on a 228x50mm undercarriage. Simple, low-technology, and completely replicable by anyone willing to learn. This particular structure is designed to be loaded onto a car trailer and moved — something you will never achieve with brick or concrete.

The vision for that project is a cluster of similar units at Pebble Spring Farm, available as Airbnb accommodation. Off-grid, light in the environment, beautiful in the forest.

A Balanced Approach

I wouldn’t suggest you become a timber fanatic and refuse to use anything else. Like a good diet, a balanced approach is usually right. Timber works brilliantly in combination with conventional materials — and the appropriate response depends on your project, your site, your budget, and your objectives.

What I am saying is this: don’t dismiss timber because of received wisdom or a sceptical uncle. The finance is available. The approvals are achievable. The skills and materials are in the market. The environmental case is strong. And the quality of space that timber creates — warm, tactile, quiet, and somehow emotionally at ease in its surroundings — is genuinely hard to replicate in brick and concrete.

Yes, you can do it. And it might be the best building decision you ever make.

— Tim Hewitt-Coleman

Director, noh Architects

http://www.noharchitects.com

Gqeberha, Eastern Cape

One of the things I enjoy about being an architect is that no two days are the same. Today I’m helping a client get building compliance on an older property in Mossel Bay — and it’s a good reminder of some important lessons when working with historic drawings.

Here’s what to watch out for.

Old Approved Plans Are a Starting Point, Not a Source of Truth

When you’re working on an older building, you’ll often be handed a set of plans that were approved many years ago. In this case, we’re looking at drawings from 1963. They have a municipal stamp on them. They look official.

Don’t trust them — at least not without verification.

That stamp tells you the drawings were approved at the time. It doesn’t tell you whether the dimensions are accurate, whether the work was built as drawn, or whether the person who drafted them measured correctly. You can and should look at old approved plans to understand what was built and what was approved, but treat every dimension as something to be verified independently.

The Cape Feet Problem

South Africa adopted the metric system in 1961, but surveyors and draughtsmen were still working in the old system well into the 1960s. That means you’ll often encounter drawings dimensioned in Cape feet — not imperial feet, but Cape feet, which are a slightly different measurement again.

A dimension that reads “80” on a 1963 drawing could mean 80 Cape feet, which converts to approximately 25.1 metres. That’s very different from 26 metres — yet 26 metres is what the stamped municipal drawing claimed.

To convert Cape feet to metres reliably, use an online conversion tool. I’ve found convertunits.com to be accurate for this purpose. Type in your Cape feet value, convert, and then cross-check against independent sources before you rely on the figure.

How to Cross-Check: The SG Diagram and the GIS

For any property, there are two authoritative sources of site information:

The first is the Surveyor General’s diagram. This is the legally registered cadastral diagram for the erf, held by the Chief Surveyor General’s office (sg.drdlr.gov.za). In our Mossel Bay example, the SG diagram is dated 1952 — older than the approved plans — but it’s the legal record of the property boundaries and is the document you should trust.

The second is the municipal GIS. Most municipalities now offer publicly accessible GIS portals with measurement tools. You can measure boundary dimensions directly on screen and compare them to what appears on your drawings. In this case, the GIS measurement confirmed 25.1 metres — matching the SG diagram and the converted Cape feet figure, not the 26 metres on the approved plans.

That discrepancy of nearly a metre may sound minor. It isn’t. If you build in the wrong position based on incorrect boundary information, you could end up over a sewer line, over a boundary, or in a situation that costs your client enormous amounts of money to rectify.

The Principle

When working on older buildings, the rule is simple: the Surveyor General’s diagram is the authoritative record of the property. Everything else — old approved plans, municipal stamps, previous survey pegs — needs to be cross-checked against it before you rely on it for design or construction.

Take the time to verify. It’s not complicated, and it could save your client — and your professional indemnity — a great deal of trouble.

— Tim Hewitt-Coleman

Director, noh Architects

www.noharchitects.com

Gqeberha, Eastern Cape

Video link

Architectural Review Panels: What Every Architect Should Know

One of the quiet pleasures of being an architect is the variety. One day you’re deep in a complex commercial project, the next you’re reviewing someone’s house extension against a set of estate guidelines. It keeps you sharp — and it keeps you honest.

From time to time, you’ll be asked to serve on an architectural review panel for an estate or sectional title development. It’s not glamorous work, and it won’t make you rich. But it matters. Someone has to hold the line on quality, and if you do it well, you protect both the built environment and your own professional reputation.

Here’s what I’ve learned.

Set Up Clear Terms of Engagement — Before You Start

Before you accept the appointment, nail down how you’ll receive submissions. Insist on a single point of contact — one named person — and specify that all applications must come via email. If you don’t do this, you will be buried. Homeowners, builders, plumbers, interior decorators — everyone will try to contact you directly, and everyone will think their job is urgent. A clear channel protects your time and ensures there’s a paper trail for every submission.

While you’re at it, specify your turnaround time upfront. Ten working days from receipt of a complete submission is reasonable. Without a defined timeline, applicants will chase you the moment they’ve sent something. Define “complete submission” too — if drawings are missing or don’t meet the format requirements, the clock doesn’t start until they do.

Know the Guidelines and Stay Inside Them

Your role on a review panel is to apply the architectural guidelines, not to express your personal taste. This is a harder discipline than it sounds. You’ll look at a drawing and instinctively think “I wouldn’t do it that way” — but that’s not the question. The question is: does it comply with the guidelines or not?

The moment you start substituting your own judgement for the guidelines, you’ve stepped outside your mandate. You’ve also opened yourself up to disputes that are very difficult to defend, because your reasoning becomes subjective.

If the guidelines were written by someone else, read them carefully before accepting the appointment. If they’re vague or incomplete, flag it — and consider making amendments a condition of your acceptance.

If you’re writing the guidelines yourself, be precise. Specify exactly what drawings are required for a submission: site plan, floor plans, all four elevations, materials schedule. Specify the format — A1 printed, or A3 PDF. The more specific you are upfront, the fewer arguments you’ll have later.

Use a Structured Review Template

When you sit down to review a set of drawings, don’t write discursive comments. Set up a simple table:

Column 1: The relevant clause in the architectural guidelines

Column 2: Your comment

Column 3: Finding — In Order / Not In Order

That’s it. Work through the guidelines systematically, point by point. Your responses are factual, not emotional. People have significant money invested in these applications, and they have timelines. When a finding goes against them, they need to understand exactly why — and they need to be able to address it specifically and resubmit.

A structured template also protects you. If someone later claims you approved something that doesn’t comply, the record speaks for itself.

In Summary

Architectural review work is a small but important part of the profession. Done well, it upholds standards, gives homeowners confidence in their investment, and keeps estates from becoming an architectural free-for-all. Done badly — or without clear terms — it becomes a source of conflict that no one needs.

Be specific. Be systematic. Stay in your lane. And make sure the paperwork is tight from day one.

— Tim Hewitt-Coleman

Director, noh ARCHITECTS

http://www.noharchitects.com

Gqeberha, Eastern Cape

People often compare property investment unfavourably to the stock market. On average, they’re probably right — the JSE or the S&P 500 will outperform the average property portfolio over time. But here’s the thing: it’s never about averages. In property, the decisions are specific, they’re within your control, and a little knowledge can make an enormous difference to your outcome. That’s a conversation for another day.

Today I want to talk about a question I get asked surprisingly often — and one that more people should be asking before they pick up the phone to an architect.

Should I build, or should I buy?

Why I Ask the Question

By the time most people arrive in my office, they’ve already made up their minds. They want to build. And I understand that — there’s something deeply satisfying about the idea of creating exactly what you want, from scratch, on your terms.

But I always ask: have you thought carefully about whether you actually need to build? Because building is expensive, time-consuming, and genuinely complex. If you can achieve your objective by buying an existing property — or by buying and modifying one — that path is almost always faster, cheaper, and less painful.

So before we talk design, I want to talk about the decision.

Run the Numbers First

The first thing I suggest is a simple spreadsheet exercise. Look at what properties are selling for per square metre in the suburbs that interest you. Then look at what it costs to build per square metre in those same areas. The comparison will tell you a lot.

In some suburbs, building new makes reasonable financial sense. In others, you can buy existing property so far below replacement cost that building would be financially irrational. This isn’t complicated analysis — it just requires the discipline to do it before you get emotionally committed to a design.

Be Specific About Your Objective

Sometimes the numbers alone don’t settle the question, because your needs are specific. Let’s say you want a guest house within walking distance of the beach. You can’t compromise on location, and you can’t find an existing property that works. Fair enough — but even then, the question isn’t immediately “should I build?” It becomes: can I find vacant land here? Or can I find an existing property that I can adapt, at a cost lower than building from scratch?

The cost of adapting an existing building is almost always less than the cost of starting from nothing. Not always — but almost always.

You’re Buying Rights, Not Just Bricks

Here’s something that many buyers overlook: when you buy a property, you’re not just buying the physical structure. You’re buying the rights that come with it.

That might mean the right to operate a guest house, to build a block of flats, to develop student accommodation, or to subdivide the erf. Those rights may already be in place, or you may need to apply for them. Understanding what’s possible on a given property — and what isn’t — is a critical part of the decision.

This is where the Local Spatial Development Framework (LSDF) becomes useful. It’s the municipal planning document that sets out what can and can’t be developed in different parts of the city. It’s publicly available, it’s not that difficult to interpret with a little guidance, and it can save you from buying a property that simply can’t accommodate your vision.

The Bottom Line

Building is complicated. It’s also sometimes the right answer — when your needs are truly specific, when the numbers stack up, and when you go in with your eyes open.

But before you start sketching floor plans or briefing an architect, do the homework. Compare the cost of building versus buying in your target area. Be honest about whether an existing property could serve your needs. Understand the rights and restrictions that apply to any property you’re considering.

The critical decision point isn’t the design. It’s the question that comes before it: is it absolutely necessary to build at all?

If the answer is yes — then let’s talk. I’m here for that.

Tim Hewitt-Coleman

Director, noh ARCHITECTS

http://www.noharchitects.com

Gqeberha, Eastern Cape

My view is that : “It is important that we do have strong feelings about things. Even if we know those feelings change from time to time, but for all of us to sit back and be polite and not have a voice because we are not woman enough, we’re not trans enough, we’re not black enough, we’re not disabled enough, (or whatever the fashion is at the time) to sensor ourselves, to let other voices come, I think that’s a mistake. All of us architects have a voice. We are interested in the shape and form of things. And we mustn’t be afraid to think that, that voice is important.”