Mud hut with a difference may ease Africa's housing crisis

Mud has long been the building material of choice in rural Africa. Now an Englishman from Norwich has caused a stir in cosmopolitan Cape Town by constructing a two-storey luxury house made out of earth.

Simric Yarrow has spent the past 14 months building his environmentally friendly mud house in the affluent suburb of Muizenberg, and it has become a local tourist attraction.

He says it is the only one of its kind in urban South Africa and hopes it will become a model for future house-building in a country in desperate need of cheap, mass-produced, quality housing.

Mr Yarrow, 35, said: "What we've tried to do with this house is show something people can aspire to – seeing mud as chic. "I didn't understand why people were continuing to build houses with bricks and cement when the resources are here and the climate is right to build it this way, which is much cheaper and more environmentally friendly. We want to break down the current cultural barriers which don't exist, for example, as close as Swaziland – where many mud buildings have been recently built with royal approval."

Two years ago, his wife, Carey, found a plot of land which they bought for 200,000 rand (£14,000) and building began in November that year. But this was not going to be a traditional African house made out of mud.

With a million-rand budget, the house will have three to four bedrooms, two lounges, a kitchen, two shower rooms, a garage, garden and an annexe. The house will use recycled water which he plans to heat by solar power or wind turbine – essential in South Africa where electricity shortages and power cuts are common. But the compost lavatories were vetoed by the council.

He used old English building methods dating back more than 500 years. Many houses built then using the technique are still standing, especially in the south-west of England.

The correct name for the property is a cob house, which is built by mixing 20 per cent pure clay, 80 per cent sand with straw and water and then treading it in to achieve the right mixture. After around 20 minutes, the mixture is shaped into a long roll and cut into cobs – round, loaf-type bricks from which it gets its name. The walls are built up to about a foot wide, but thicker at the base of the house. The material dries in 24 hours but takes around 28 days to reach full strength. Mr Yarrow got the sand from his garden and the clay from a municipal landfill. "This type of material is perfect for a climate like this," he said. "The house can breathe in a way that lets it be cool in summer and retains heat in winter which means you don't need to heat the house."

Floorboards and beams are forested wood with no chemicals; the roof will be waterproofed with bitumen gum; the outside walls incorporate lime to keep out the rain.

Mr Yarrow, his wife and two daughters, Kalila, six, and three-year old Zorya, had all been involved. "It's been a real family experience with the children getting involved on site," said Mr Yarrow, who moved to South Africa 11 years ago to work for an NGO. "We wanted to bring them up in a healthy home and wanted to show it could be done."