‘Sahaspura’: the first high-rise housing project for low-income people in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Abstract

‘Sahaspura’, the first high-rise low-income housing project in Sri Lanka, was completed in 2001, and the project was a new experience both for low-income people and for housing professionals in the country. Consisting of 671 housing units over 14 floors, the construction of Sahaspura was not just a housing project, but it was one outcome of an entire city development under the Sustainable Township Development Programme (STP). The mission of STP was to help Sri Lanka meet the shelter requirements of the urban poor by creating socially acceptable, economically viable and environmentally friendly housing and urban and spatial developments to ensure sustainable living in Colombo. The Sahaspura high-rise low-income housing project was the pilot project under the STP, and this paper discusses to what extent Sahaspura has achieved the STP mission to ensure sustainable living, 12 years after its construction.