Country caged: Ghana’s fence wall culture
“Good fences make good neighbours” is credited to one of America’s great poets, Robert Frost. In his poem Mending Walls, he tries to explain that establishing clear boundaries and respecting property lines can lead to better neighbourliness and better relationships.
The poem presupposes that boundaries, when clearly demarcated, would prevent conflicts and misunderstanding. Literally and figuratively, this is true. However, Ghanaians have taken the design and construction of fences beyond the practical necessities to a whole new level.
There is everything good, bad and ugly about fence walls in Ghana.
The culture of fence walls, along with the cost and materials sunk into our fence walls, is insane. It is time to critically look at the philosophy behind our fence walls and to rethink where we are heading as a country.
Some local origins, fence walls.
In many villages and towns in Ghana, backyard gardens within settlements were usually fenced off to prevent goats and sheep.
The predominant materials used are bamboo, sticks and palm. The long bamboo stalk was split into about four parts and tied horizontally with sliced cane immersed in water to soften and make malleable. There were other forms of fencing: basket-weave sliced bamboo and palm fonds. I grew up admiring the skills and artistic forms of various types of fences; the shades, rhythm and changing colours over time.
They were not intrusive and blended with the surroundings.
It is worth noting that homes were not fenced. In all forms of settlement architecture, the building forms of the courtyard houses ended up creating the domestic private spaces, but not with fences. So, it is safe to say that fences, though not a new phenomenon, are relatively new with homes and property.
In the urban areas, homes were fenced with hedges and picket fences. Mainly, the plants of choice were madras thorns and milk bush. Hedges which were not regularly manicured became unkempt and grew out of proportion.
Cemetery confines were marked with croton. Croton, though very colourful and very beautiful, for me, became associated with death and ill luck and almost an unacceptable landscape for settlements for a long time. That feeling still lingers on after all these years.
Land ownership, fence walls, security
The word “fence” comes from the 14th century, when it referred to defence structures made by people or other forces for protection. They were built against attacks and , therefore, were a line of security. In Ghana, it is not strange to find a very long fence wall in the middle of nowhere. The reason is simple: to make a statement of ownership of the parcel of land.
Aesthetics, status symbols
The Building Permit process requires that Fence Wall designs be submitted. In some of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), a preliminary permit could be granted for the fence walls alone, and the building permit could follow later.
However, the frontage of fence walls tells more stories. Fence walls have become status symbols. The design, ornamentation and attention to detail tell a lot about the property owner.
To quote Giorgio Armani, “Elegance is not about being noticed, it is about being remembered”. The Ghanaian fence wall is about being noticed, remembered and more. From minimalist to very complex designs define class, lifestyle and status.
The grills, finishes, structural columns, complementary landscape designs, sophisticated lighting and finishes, embedded gatehouses with signage and roofed main entrances require an in-depth study and classification.
Danger fence walls pose
The quality of fence walls has been a source of worry to many architects and engineers. Fence walls are technically free-standing walls that could easily tilt in any direction when their integrity is compromised.
Two workers working on a construction site at Ashongman Estate in the Ga East municipality were killed instantly, and another was seriously injured when a wall collapsed on them.
The workers were among five persons constructing a drainage system as part of a road construction project on behalf of the Ga East Municipal Assembly and got trapped in a dug trench when a fence wall close to where they were working and which was earmarked for demolition collapsed on them - Graphiconline - June 6, 2020
There are many more stories which we gloss over as a country. On April 14, 2022, a fence wall collapsed and killed a 14-year-old JSS pupil who was preparing to write her BECE near the Kokrobite beach. The videos show how the foundation was compromised and it toppled on this girl.
Many developers see fence walls as simple construction and,therefore, very minimal attention is paid to the technical inputs from architects and engineers. Most of these fence walls are quickly erected to secure parcels of land. Due to how sometimes they are hurriedly constructed, many fence walls end up being poorly designed, poorly engineered and the materials used may not be of optimal performance. Many fence walls develop cracks and settlements, which are tell-tales of poorly engineered construction. The morphology of the land around the site, stormwater ingress and other conditions could make any fence wall become a danger to the public.
Height, fence walls
There is no strict legislation for the height of fence walls for residential buildings. Very high screen walls are on the rise; some as high as 4.0 metres.
Regularly, for security installations that may be acceptable but not for residential buildings. The reasons may be due to the sense of security.
Research carried out in 2018 indicated that though 78 per cent of respondents felt safe in fence walls.
However, about 52 per cent of those who have experienced robbery were of the opinion that fence walls do not necessarily make it safe. (Challenges of the Urban Boundary Wall: The case of two Neighbourhoods in Accra by Ninette Quaofio, J.G.K Abankwa and S.O. Afram).
Cemetery fence walls
For all fence walls, the ultimate fence wall is that of the cemetery. Does it symbolise the demarcation between the living and the dead?
Those within the wall cannot escape and those outside are not interested in getting into it. Rural cemeteries do not have fence walls; however, the boundaries are respected.
The emphasis is on how we fence off everything in our country, completely caged in fence walls.
Cost, fence walls to the nations
The country is spending so much money and materials on fence walls. For a country with a huge deficit in housing, it is strange that we have not addressed this by looking at other means of ensuring boundaries are secured.
For a small site of about 70 feet x 100 feet, the block work needed to complete the fence wall could raise the shell of a two-bedroom house of about 80 square metres. The shell is approximately 25 per cent of the cost of a complete structure, and ,therefore, every four units of such fence wall could have been shelter for a household.
Rethinking our boundary construction
It is time to legislate in our Building Regulations to reduce the height of fence walls to reduce our total material usage in this respect. It is time to get ourselves out of the cages of fence walls. We have decisions to make with respect to materials, heights of buildings, privacy of our homes and security of our townships. We cannot proceed along this trajectory, which is not sustainable.
The reuse of block work is difficult or almost impossible. As plot development gives way for multi-level construction, these materials used for fence walls and the construction do not lend themselves to any adaptable reuse. It is time to push for materials that may be reusable such as bricks and stabilised earth for fence walls.
In countries such as Kenya, fence walls are hardly rendered (plastered). The blockwork when completed with neat keyed joints.
Cement and other related materials are conserved. The elemental conservation of materials over large numbers is significant.
Let’s rethink our fence walls.
The writer is an architect.
