Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to attend ULI Alabama’s project tour highlighting Navigate Communities’ efforts on housing and community revitalization and reimagining the construction process. Navigate Communities, a nonprofit affordable housing consultant, is currently building housing in the Goldwater Estates area of the Titusville community in Birmingham, Alabama.
Located along 6th Avenue South between Elmwood Cemetery and downtown Birmingham, Titusville is truly one of Birmingham’s most historic communities. According to the Titusville website, the area was originally settled by freed slaves shortly after the Civil War. Titusville then became a prominent middle-class African American neighborhood in the mid-20th century, including residents such as Wallace Rayfield (American architect and educator) and John Wesley Rice, Jr., father of former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Today, Navigate Communities is a nonprofit working in multiple areas of the housing industry to facilitate access to quality housing. The nonprofit organization is investing long-term in the Titusville community to develop and revitalize the area. Utilizing Extreme Panel technologies, off-site manufacturing, and structural insulated panels, they can develop more affordable and faster built housing. The video below, which was featured on The Build Show, highlights the work being performed by Navigate Communities in the Titusville Community.
The ULI Alabama project tour included a visit to the off-site manufacturing building and one of seven new homes constructed by Navigate Communities in the Goldwire Heights area. What impressed me most was the speed of construction. By fabricating the structural insulated panels off-site, Navigate Communities has significantly reduced construction time. Once the foundation is poured, a house can be turnkey ready in just two to five days. This level of efficiency is an example of how innovative building practices can help solve the affordable housing crisis in communities.