Nigerite’s new building solution raises fresh hope for mass housing
Though mass housing as a building model and concept is not a strange to developers and building professionals, it has always been avoided because of the challenges in it, especially the conventional building method which takes a long time to deliver housing in large number.
Following an extensive research and innovative initiatives, Nigerite, Nigeria’s premier roofing materials manufacturer, has come up with a solution to this problem which it unveiled in Lagos recently.
The new building solution, known as Kalsi, is an alternative Dry Construction Solution designed to offer premium Dry Construction System (Dryco) solutions to the construction market and tackle the challenges that had hampered mass housing schemes in the country.
“In the process of our continuous and consistent devotion to quality and innovation, we have been working on the development of an entirely novel and friendly solution in the built industry to provide builders a viable alternative to the traditional wet construction method with blocks, bricks and concrete,” Frank Le Bris, Nigerite’s managing director, said at a media conference to unveil the Kalsi range of products.
Kalsi, Bris said, offered individual home owners and mass housing scheme developers an unparalleled value in timely home delivery, positing that with the falling prices of crude oil and high cost of funds, Nigeria’s construction industry was under pressure to evolve more timely and cost-efficient systems of construction which qualities the new Kalsi range of products possess.
“Mass housing at both federal and state level is achievable using this system of construction, either in a hybrid solution with the traditional brick and mortar method or a complete dry construction system,” Le Bris said.
He explained that Kalsi boards were manufactured from cement, quartz sand, cellulose, natural calcium silicate and water, adding that the boards were processed by autoclave – a drying process under high pressure and temperature for durability and dimensional stability.
The boards which are manufactured under strict quality control and international standards also boast of numerous advantages over the traditional masonry construction.
Highlighting other benefits of the new building system, Le Bris noted that as a lightweight construction system, when compared to mortar construction method, Kasli will help homeowners and developers save foundation and structural costs.
“Dry construction using Kalsi board is a more versatile and faster construction method, saving up to 70 percent of construction time when compared to the traditional wet construction which uses bricks and blocks,” he said.
According to the managing director, the process has proven to be a much viable solution with lower self-weight, faster and better technical finishes when compared to traditional building system.
Bris said further that Kalsi boards were also prominent for achieving any design, adding that Dryco had gained more prominence in recent time owing to their ability to generate minimum construction waste, preserve room temperature and thus energy efficient.
Also speaking at the media parley, Wale Ogungbe, Nigerite’s head of dry construction unit, explained that with the new boards designed in a pre-engineered system, builders could not easily maneuver construction process, hence significantly reducing the case of building collapse.
Ogungbe assured that with the boards produced under an efficient and well-monitored process that ensures a high degree of quality is maintained, the boards have capacity to repel any natural external force such as wind.
“The Integrated Building Solution (IBS) encompassing the entire building systems are designed by a software which considers a host of external forces so there is no cause to worry because incidents such as heavy wind have been taken into consideration in the production process,” he said.
ODINAKA MBONU