The UBU Story

Whilst we are focused on building (or helping others to build) a quality sandbag home anywhere, our starting point was very much focused on how we assist in the low-income shelter making context.

How It All Began

The founder of UBU, Barry Lewis (an architect from the UK) came to South Africa with his family in 2009 to work with The Warehouse NGO in Wetton, Cape Town. They had a program in the informal community of Sweet Home Farm in Philippi.

For the first three years, the focus was not on building houses but building relationships, and it emerged that the best way for this to happen was by running and facilitating a soccer club called ‘The Superstars of Sweet Home Farm’ which Barry did with Siya James (who would become the leader of the community and later, the factory manager at UBU). It was a lot of fun but also included the serious work of life skills, homework clubs and food.

In 2012 UBU was birthed and whilst it had the legal status of a business the focus was very much in trying to pioneer a facilitated building methodology at the same time as facilitating the UISP (Upgrade of Informal Settlements Program) project in the community run by the City of Cape Town.

Phase 1 included a fully drained and serviced road network in the community. Sadly, due to unprecedented levels of violence Siya James and his family had to leave the community and as a consequence, the UBU operation had to leave as well. UBU’s new home is now on the Oakland Dairy site in Philippi, 2 km’s away from Sweet Home Farm.

We haven't given up hope that one day we will go back and complete the job we started.

In the meantime, let's build (or help others to build) anywhere they want to.

The Sandbag/EcoBeam Family of Attributes

(why we love using Sandbags)

Thermal.png

Thermally & Acoustically Efficient

Sandbag homes are able to retain heat during winter, minimizing the need for heaters. The humans who occupy sandbag homes also sleep better because of less noise from outside.

fire proof.png

Fire Proof

Sandbag homes are completely fire resistant, providing safety and peace of mind for you and your family.

bullet proof.jpg

Bullet Proof

Sandbags have been used in war to absorb gunfire. Built with more modern materials, sandbag homes will protect you and your family.

eco1.png

Eco-friendly

Sandbag homes can be built without the use of bricks or concrete and the entire construction process has a very small carbon footprint.

combo.png

User-friendly

The technology used to build a sandbag home is exactly the same, whether you’re building a luxury home in a beautiful suburb or a small house in an informal settlement.

Incremental.png

Incremental

The combination of Sandbags and EcoBeams can be used to build something incrementally, bit by bit.

cost1.jpg

Cost Effective

Sandbag housing is cheaper than conventional brick housing by up to 40%. Where conventional housing is being built for ± R10,000 / sqm a sandbag home can be built for ± R6,000 / sqm for a formal house. For a starter home in an informal settlement, the cost can be as little as R2,500 / sqm or even less.

The Freedom To Self-Build

Sandbag housing allows humans to self-build their homes because of the incremental nature of the building process.

Let’s Work Together