Introduction to Woodless Construction

Constructing quality buildings using unfired earth bricks and vault and dome roofs.
No cement, no presses, no corrugated iron.

Using woodless construction techniques, the builders trained by DW can undertake a wide range of buildings, from simple single-room forms to high quality villas and offices.

Using woodless construction has many advantages. Woodless Construction -

• Protects the environment, saves trees, because no wood is used in the building - a climate change bonus!
• Addresses poverty, because it generates local revenue by using local labour and local materials, thus benefiting the local economy
• Provides an exceptional degree of natural, ecological climate comfort.
• Avoids the need to obtain costly permits for cutting wood
• Achieves decent and sustainable housing
• Offers a flexible building system responding to each persons resources : the owner can decide on the quality of interior and exterior finishings, which can be basic or very high quality.
  

And in the Sahel?

Woodless construction has existed in the Sahel since 1980. Using the training programme developed by DWF, hundreds of builders have been trained in Niger, in Mali, in Mauritania and in Burkina Faso, and many hundreds more buildings have been constructed. (Estimating the exact number is no longer possible given that trained builders working independently, outside any project environment, continue to build for their own clients.)