Woodless construction: an overview
Practical Action
the (local) brick, rather than precise metre/centimetre based dimensions. This means that the wall
length is based on a number of whole bricks, and this is important because it reduces the need to
cut bricks to get them to fit a specific metric length, thus avoiding bad joints in the masonry; it also
simplifies laying out and ensures a good bond between successive courses of bricks.
Gaining people's confidence
Confidence in Woodless Construction has come with the passage of time and the example of many
hundreds of woodless buildings. The wide variety of buildings, some of them large and prestigious,
reinforces the demonstration of viability and quality. Large buildings complexes and quality private
houses in the region have helped develop a reputation for quality which has certainly encouraged
emulation by the population. But the greatest emphasis has been to demonstrate small and easily
built one, two and three roomed buildings, suited both to housing and to small public facilities, and
all of which are easy to build and affordable. And today practically every builder who is trained builds
his own house immediately as part of his training – and gets a door and a window from the DW
programme so that his house is viable and can even be rented out.
Flexibility in design and size are important.
Woodless Construction buildings range from
really very cheap, single-domed, round rooms
with 20 cm walls, through to numerous
different combinations of round and
rectangular rooms which can be adapted to
suit individual tastes and specific functions.
The demand for larger buildings can either be
met by combinations of two and three roomed
structures which can be built easily by
builders after basic training and that can be
developed by the owner according to needs
and resources over several years, or by
building larger structures such as classrooms
with large roof spans. All the builders are
taught to respect the ratios between roof span
/ the spring point height of the vault or dome /
the thickness of the walls that support the
roofs. DW insists that builders work within the
limits of their skills and the guidelines on the
span/height ratios, and to say “No” to clients
who insist otherwise.
DW’s approach to training builders
Early opportunities to learn
During the early 1980s, apprentice builders
Figure 6: Woodless construction handbook for
trainees, in its 11th Edition.
mainly learnt Woodless Construction
techniques through 'on the job' experience. By
the late 1980s it was clear that such a ‘non
structured’ approach to ‘training’ gave very
mixed results: the more forward builders got a lot of experience, whilst others lagged behind and
often only worked on more menial tasks. It was difficult to be sure who had learnt enough of the
techniques to be a safe builder. This was not a good (nor safe) way to proceed, and from 1990
onwards DW promoted the use of a structured training progamme that ensures that each trainee
covers the same ground and is supervised. For Woodless Construction to achieve a significant impact
on local building practices, emphasis needed to be put on providing sustained and regular training
opportunities, complemented by the example of many woodless buildings.
A boost to Woodless Construction came in 1993 when Development Workshop, with support from
IUCN (The World Conservation Union) obtained funding from the Danish Government (Danida) for a
five year, Woodless Construction Programme of training and awareness-raising in Niger and Mali;
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