New construct on housing market

As the need for low and middle income housing grows in Barbados, prospective homeowners now have another option on the type construction they have to choose from.
This has come to light through a partnership with two local firms and one Trinidadian firm all looking to bring a new housing solution to the Barbados market. The two local firms include; Weekes’ Kingdom Builders Inc. and Steve’s Building Works Limited – and the Trinidad firm Therml Impac Affordable Homes Company Limited (TIAHCO) are using an efficient process for construction.
The new technique involves a specially designed, lightweight high-tensile steel wire cage with a core of expanded polystyrene.
The process of construction has a coat of concrete which is then added to both sides, forming a final product that is reported to be structurally stronger and yet lighter than any conventional brick wall or hollow clay-block wall of equivalent size.
Dolphin Park, Christ Church is the site of the new model home called a The “Thermal Impact House.”
But what stands out most about the new technique is cost associated with building the house, its resistance and time efficiency for the building process. The bedroom model home has been constructed at an estimated cost of BDS $150,000 this is excluding the costs of land
TIAHCO’s managing director Kayam Baboolal said his company shipped the collection of panels that formed the core of the house, and local businesses finished the job.
Moreover the structures are apparently one of the strongest constructs as they have been described as resistant to earthquakes, hurricanes, fire, termites, fungus and dry rot.
The factory base for the companies will be in Six Roads, St Philip, in another three months.
“We are looking to employ 150 people, mainly women,” he reported.
An official from one of the local firms said public response to the launch was “great”, with Barbadians marvelling at the coolness of the house’s interior and the speed of construction. It was added, “It just takes seven days to finish a house.”
According to Minister of State in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Patrick Todd, the introduction of TIAHCO into the domestic housing market was “most welcome” because it used a system reported to be “environmentally friendly, cost effective, innovative, distinctive and quickly constructed”.
“This is something yet to be experienced in the building sector and would be a welcome relief to all [prospective] home-owners . . . ,” he added before officially opening the show house.