MASS.Build

CA site photo: Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund

By starting our own construction division in Rwanda, MASS is better able to deliver quality projects for our clients and partners while supporting the local economy with local purchasing, education, and job creation.

In our more than a decade of experience building projects in Rwanda, including the Butaro Doctors' Housing, Mubuga Primary School, Ruhehe Primary School, and most recently the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture and the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, MASS identified a critical gap in the infrastructure development market: the capacity to deliver complex projects on time, on budget, and at a high level of quality. We believe that our partners deserve a reliable, high-quality, and ethical approach to the construction of their projects, so we started MASS.Build to improve project delivery while empowering local masons, carpenters, steel fixers, engineers, and managers, while contributing to the local economy through on-the job-skills training, local purchasing, and environmental protection. Currently, MASS.Build is working on Rwandan-based MASS and partner projects. MASS.Build is available for contract on non-MASS projects in Rwanda.

Our construction team is guided by the principles of lean construction, a production management-based approach to project delivery that is driven first and foremost by respect for people. This process is designed to minimize waste and, as a result, maximize value and improve project outcomes for all stakeholders. By engaging and respecting every person on a project, MASS.Build can leverage all of our shared knowledge and experience to find new and improved ways to achieve our clients and partners’ goals and impacts, which includes a commitment to sustainability and dignity through design.

MASS.Build’s goal is to be a changemaker in the Rwandan construction sector—advancing ethics and impact, while meeting project targets.

MASS.Build on site at the African Leadership University

Like architecture, construction is never neutral, it either hurts or heals.

MASS.Build is an extension of our consideration of social impact through design and construction. Since its launch in 2019, MASS.Build’s construction team has grown to include 160 full-time, salaried staff (97% of whom are Rwandan, and 28% of whom are women), as well as 2,100 Rwandan contract staff.