The superstructure for the four-storey CheiChei Living building, which is Africa's first CLT hybrid structure with more than two levels has been completed and fit-out is well underway. The first residents are scheduled to move-in early in the second quarter of 2025.

The entire prefabrication process happened digitally. It was a collaboration between Studio OMT architects in Germany, the client CPS Africa, designer Leander Moons, the builder in Zanzibar and South Africa’s Mass Timber Technologies (MTT).

“The modern process used building information modelling (BIM) software and good communication to ensure everyone, including the on-site workers, understand and agree with the final design. The CheiChei team never met during the design and fabrication phases”, says Marcus van der Hoven, of MTT.

“When everyone signed off on the design, we manufactured over 1091 “flat pack” components, complete with detailing, packed them into five 40-foot containers and sent them to site in Zanzibar for assembly.

The complete project will consist of 20 buildings in various configurations accommodating studio up to three-bedroom apartments with shops on the ground floor. Construction for the next eight buildings has commenced.