Adopting new technologies in roofing and wall construction developed by Roorkee-based Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) helps save construction cost by around 30%, said CBRI chief scientist S.K. Negi on Friday.

Speaking on affordable housing at a two-day training programme for engineers and architects on ‘innovative technologies for construction of disaster resilient habitat’, Mr. Negi said compared to the conventional RCC slab roof the pre-cast RC plank roof technology saves about 25% cost, 75% time and 20% energy. Similarly, adopting brick point roof technology saves about 30% cost, 75% time and 5% energy.

Compared to conventional common brick wall, the stone brick wall construction saves 20% cost and time and 60% energy. The C-Brick wall technology saves 15% cost and 60% energy. The popular Rat Trap bond wall construction saves 20% cost and 25% energy, Mr. Negi said. The CBRI has made use of these affordable building technologies to come up with 130 specific designs of houses in 64 housing zones of 13 States under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Gramin scheme. These designs were developed on the yardstick that the structure lasts for four decades and the per unit construction of cost do not increase over the prescribed amount.

In Odisha, nearly 4 lakh of the 10 lakh houses constructed under PMAY-G have been constructed using technologies developed by CBRI. “The overall saving from use of our technologies in the PMAY-G has been almost 30%,” he said.

Executive director of Dakshina Kannada Nirmiti Kendra, Rajendra Kalbavi, said most technologies developed by CBRI have been adopted by the Kendra.

CBRI senior principal scientist R. Dharmaraju said the institute as a part of its skill development programme was conducting sessions across the country to upgrade knowledge of agencies implementing affordable house construction schemes. The institute was trying to create a pool of skilled human resource for building construction industries, he said.