Building for the future

“Veerhuis Building Systems”

Cruquiusweg 142 G 1019 AK Amsterdam

Tel +31(0)20 4688528 Fax +31(0)20 4630913

www.sardaint.eu

Advantages

Advantages of the veerhuis concept

EPS and LWS are light in weight, which makes it

easy to work with, diminish heavy transport, save

energy, cause less tear and wear and produces less

fine dust. Foundations can be lighter in

construction ,saving time and money. Because of

the light weight it is possible to make floating

homes. Heavy machinery like cranes is not longer

required which gives the following advantages.

Lighter construction, saving money,

saving energy, less fatalities at

work,less low back problems or other

work related health problems, less

LTA´s( lost time accidents) and better

gender friendliness.

LWS has the highest strength to weight ratio

of any building material. It is very strong Strong

The materials are relatively cheap Diminished Costs

EPS is the perfect insulator

Therefore it reduces, without any

active change in human behaviour the

energy consumption of the “house”

during the full operational life time of

that house (80 years or longer) with

60%, with no extra maintenance.

As long as there is a direct correlation between

energy and CO2 emission the above mentioned

energy Reduction will lead to Decrease in CO2 emission.

Polystyrene and LWS are reusable and recyclable,

and therefore they produces nearly NO solid waste generation.

They are fire retarding / fire resistant Safer

They are earthquake resistant and therefore

Ideal for Post Disaster Reconstruction

in seismic active regions, but also in

other disaster areas for reasons

mentioned in this same

article(weight,floating, no suffocation

,lower killing factor etc).

There is no production of hazardous gases. No Ozone, no asbestos, no fibres, no

CFC´s, no dust, no smell, no

formaldehyde and no Radon.

EPS does not disintegrate, does not rot, is not

hygroscopic, causes no mould or humidity

and bugs ,rodents and termites do not like it. The house is healthier.

EPS and LWS are resistant to frost and heat Can be used in all climates.

They are very easy to handle and flexible in the

design Therefore it fits all cultures and

architects.

The materials itself are not carcinogenic and Healthier for the Consumer and the

causes no allergies Labourers.

Because it is easy to work with and light in

weight, construction can go 4-6 times faster Labour costs decrease, the house is

cheaper.

Training in the techniques of Veerhuis is simple

and fast, while there is no need for expensive

sophisticated tools

which makes it an excellent system for

less advanced and less affluent

countries where many unemployed

and non trained workers are available

Because this VEERHUIS CONCEPT

eliminates to a large extent the use

of sand, cement, bricks,water and wood it is

Eco-friendly, diminishes deforestation,

diminishes depletion of natural

resources and saves water.

Polystyrene 100SE contains 95 % air. The

material is supplied in the form of beads which

after steam application expands with a factor 80.

The end result henceforth is an eco-

friendly , low cost, low energy ,

healthier, safer, stronger, better , low

maintenance and high quality house

suitable in all climates and all cultures

and suitable on a Global level in poor

and rich countries.

It can be produced easily at nearly every

location on earth. LOCAL PRODUCTION

Easy production

Because the amount of cement is reduced with at

least 80 % or more there is an additional reduction

in the emission of CO2 Extra CO2 emission decrease

Bricks have been used for about 6000 years,

consuming clay and other soils and require a

lot of energy to produce; Save valuable soil and energy

Slums,favella´s,shantytowns are on the increase

due to increasing urbanisation and the foresight for

2030 is such that > 35 % of all city dwellers will

have no decent home.

Veerhuis opens the possibility for a

solution of the slums and the creation

of Cities without slums. MDG 7,target

11

It is evident that the present building techniques

and capacity are not able to solve the

abovementioned problem

If applied in the proper way and with

enough political will of the affluent

countries, The Veerhuis Concept can

do it!

Most of the building boom will take place in the

third world. UN Habitat estimates the need on

900.000.000 homes in the coming 25 years.Due to

the simplicity of the techniques, the limited costs

of investment, the excess availability of

Polystyrene Beads, the tremendous gain for the

environment

and the fact that local production of the material

has to be done in the countries themselves, by their

own people, this will lead to.

Investment, job creation, transfer of

knowledge, poverty reduction,

transfer of skills, energy saving,

decrease in global CO2 emission,

regaining dignity and pride

If we can succeed in the provision of

decent homes for the homeless, it will have a

tremendous positive impact on all the agreed

Millennium Development Goals , on a safer

Supports all MDG´s

world and a decrease in migration.

the Veerhuis Concept adheres to the C2C (cradle to cradle) doctrine and the 3R

principle:Reduce,Reuse,Recycle and to the Slogan of UN Habitat

“do it better, do it faster and do it with the communities”

In the concept of the Veerhuis , it is mandatory that all materials needed should be produced

in the country itself, leading to job creation, reduction of poverty, and transfer of knowledge.

Due to the local production in the country and given the light weight of the materials it will

now be possible to set up a Home Factory which will enhance the speed of construction.

Already now the speed of construction of a Veerhuis home is 5 times faster as the

construction of a traditional house. In a home factory - due to more efficiency - that speed

can increase with maybe another 40%. With such a home factory at last the Governments will

be able to solve the Housing Problem that exists and it also at the same time creates a Tool to

be used in case of acute disasters (flooding, landslides, earthquakes etc). See

chapter VEERHUIS Approach (Annex1).

In the following figures all positive advantages of Building with Veerhuis are shown,

including some realizations of Veerhuis Bouwsystemen.

Fig 1 : advantages of the Veerhuis construction

Fig 2

In this scheme the Win-Win scenarios are shown.

Although this diagram is valid for the whole world, special emphasis is placed on the THIRD

WORLD. Please see chapter Today’s crises (Annex2)

The Veerhius approach, A NEW GLOBAL APPROACH TOWARDS HOUSING IN

DISASTERS.

Chronic Disaster Acute Disaster

Slums Earthquakes

Shantytowns Floods

Favela's Hurricanes

Refugee Camps Fires

Wars

The worst disaster The worst disaster is the disaster created after a so called successful acute disaster relief

operation, where people have to stay in tents for years or when they are “forced” to move to

the informal settlements- slums, shantytowns, favela´s – because of lack of proper

management and organisation. They end up in the chronic disaster.

Nearly all countries have a chronic or an acute disaster or BOTH !

Shelter is the single overriding issue in both types of disaster.

IT IS ONE AND THE SAME PROBLEM

PDR stands for Post disaster Reconstruction; To solve the global housing problem we also

need Pre Disaster Construction(PDC) . Let us coin a new abbreviation.

PDCPDR: Pre Disaster Construction and Post Disaster Reconstruction.

PDCPDR is primarily a Government function, and it is most effective when the affected

individuals and communities actively participate in managing their own reconstruction

activities in accordance with their own reconstruction plans.

With limited capacity to deal with PDR and PDC, the management structures put in place

should be supported by training programmes to adequately prepare them for their roles.

PDCPDR requires an institutional framework that identifies the specific agency with overall

responsibility for managing this task, and other supporting agencies responsible for the range

of specific services to be provided: A National Shelter Unit

The goal for PDC is the prevention of new slums and the “eradication, transformation or

upgrading “ of existing slums

The goal for PDR is to shorten the period between Emergency shelter and Permanent Shelter

The end - responsibility to tackle both problems should be in the hand of the governments ,

assisted (if necessary) by NGO´s and if needed also by the International Community. The

International Community should help all nations to enable them to solve their own problem

and to reduce the dependence on outside “organisations”.

What is required? A) Local production of the needed building materials

B) Training of the local people and training of the trainers

C) Cooperation on a global or regional level.

How? Provide every Country or the megacities with 1, 2 or 3 Complete plants.(Loan,grant,PPP).

A complete plant consists of:

- The EPS blockmoulder

- The Light Weight Steel profile machines

- A mortar mixing machine

- A factory hall

- Some auxilliary equipment

Total investment : 1-1.5 million Euro´s per plant

Building system • Use the Veerhuis Building System.

• The construction is earthquake, hurricane and fire resistant

• Local Production of the necessary building materials is easy

• It is simple and training can be achieved in 10 days

• Construction of the building is 4-5 times faster

• Extensions can be implemented in all directions without problems

The Plant • One plant can produce per shift of 8 hours 6.000 homes of 40 m2 per year

• Life time of the plant = 20 years

• 3 shifts during 20 years can result in 360.000 homes

• With 3 plants: 1.080.000 Homes !

Home Factory • The light weight, the simplicity of the system, the speed of construction, the availability of

local labourers, the high WANT and NEED for many homes in a rather confined area – a

disaster area or a slum area- make it worthwhile to consider the option of a HOME Factory,

either permanent or mobile.

Advantages • You can work in two/three shifts

• You are independent of the weather conditions(winter, rain, hurricanes etc)

• You can deliver a constant standard of Quality

• You reduce the transport problems

Delivery of homes: By crane, by car or through construction at site

Needs • 1 Plan

• 1 Coordination mechanism

• 1 system for monitoring and evaluation

The set up should be in analogy with the health care system I mean the following:

The Hospital

• Is standardized

• Is always prepared

• Has the knowledge/specialization

• Has the equipment

• Has the manpower

• Has the skills

• Has always a stock of needed materials

• Can always ask back-up from other hospitals

• Can instantly switch from elective to acute care!

National Shelter Unit

• Must be standardized

• Must be prepared

• Must have the knowledge/specialization

• Must have the equipment

• Must have the manpower

• Must have the skills

• Has always a stock of needed materials

• Can always ask back-up from other Units

• Can instantly switch from chronic to acute disaster(disease) conditions

Global or Regional use of one System has great advantages in case of assisting each other:

• Same or similar languages

• Same skills and techniques

• No delay

• No rivalry

• No overcrowding

• Cheaper

Due to the advantages of the Veerhuis System it is possible to start with a semi permanent

shelter - skip the transitional shelter- that can be made permanent after the acute phase has

been handled.

A semi-permanent shelter

2 labourers construct this house in 3 days

Immediate Local production of Light Weight Steel frames by a mobile unit , that fits in one

container and has its own generator.

The capacity of one machine : 15-20 homes of 50 m² per day. Per year: 5000

Needed raw materials , low volume: galvanized steel coils quality S 320 GD

These frames are Earthquake resistant and hurricane proof. Assembly time is about 1.2 hours.

The can be covered by canvas or tarpaulin sheeting.

After the acute relief phase

- finish the home with the usual products available

or

- do it in accordance with the Veerhuis System.

By providing this base unit you have already laid the basis for the post disaster reconstruction

of an earthquake resistant and hurricane proof permanent home, skipping the transitional

phase. As shown on the photograph, the construction and strength allows another unit on top

of it or attached to it. The end result (artist image) could be the following: A global House.

The Third World, the developing World, is crucial in the fight against the present day crises.

And they need all our support to be able to assist us in finding a timely cure for these crises.

If we do not enable them to help us, we are in for a disaster. Not us and not immediately but

certainly our children and grandchildren.

Present day crises are :

World1+2 Third

World

Energy Increasing demands and rising costs + +

CO2

The developing world will develop and like China,

India and Brazil produce an enormous amout of CO2,

unless.... CO2 does not need a passport. + +

Shortage of

homes 900.000.000 homes needed by the year 2030 +

Deforestation Continues +

Natural resources Become depleted +

Migration Increases +

MDG When will we make real progress +

Disasters On the rise +

Economy In crisis + +

Population

growth Continues + +

Wars Are now mainly fought in the third world +

Terrorism Is likely to increase due to export of wars and

increasing poverty + +

Biofuels Food for fuel? Increases poverty and cost of living + +

The Building Boom will take place in the third world. …900.000.000 homes are needed( UN

Habitat 2003).In the traditional way, this is impossible and undesirable. Production in all

sectors will increase and “polluting industries from the North” will move to the third World.

Father Profit beats Mother Nature ( Thomas Friedman).Energy consumption will explode.

ENERGY = HUMAN DEVELOPMENT = ECONOMY And maybe according to the Law of Einstein: E = mc²

Energy = mass of population x consumption ²

The World population increases, their consumption © increases and more energy is needed.

At this moment the affluent rich person has a c-factor of 32, the Emerging person has 15

while 3.000.000.000 people on this globe have a c-factor of 1-3. The fastest growing group of

people with an increasing c-factor is the middle class of the emerging markets and one can

expect that 1.800.000.000 people will ascend to the first group of c-factor 32.( Thomas L

Friedman. Hot, Flat and Crowded. 2008); The demand for Energy will increase and the

question arises whether Mother Nature can handle this.

We all agree that the most sustainable energy is the energy you do not use.

Even if the Climate Change is hype, more energy is required to develop the rest of the world,

which is their right and which nobody can stop. And we all have agreed that All Humans are

equal, and that nobody has the right to violate their rights.

Finally the fossil fuels will be exhausted, so much is evident.

At present the discussion concentrates on Nuclear and Hydrogen energy. But also uranium

and some other usable minerals are finite. The exploration and production is costly, polluting

and energy consuming. For a short period it might be advantageous, but the safety, the waste

and the dismantling of ageing plants is very expensive and costs a lot of energy. If for

example we want to provide all needed energy through nuclear power , we have to construct

one nuclear plant every day during 36 years. Count your profit.

Hydrogen energy has no future aswell. Hydrogen is no naturally present commodity. it must

be produced with lots of energy and danger. It also needs natural resources and leads in the

end to loss of energy, unless you use renewable energy in the process.An extra reason why

we have to switch to renewable energy.

Oil is also too precious to be used for combustion. It should be sold in a pharmacy, said an ex

minister of oil of Saudi Arabia. Be clever and use it for the production of medicines, clothing,

pesticides and fertilisers and also for the constructions of houses.(See underneath).In the

future we might need it together with gas and coal for the peak flow..

Is that possible? I mean, to use oil for the construction of houses? Yes!!! You can build a

house with air and oil. And at the same time reduce the demand for Energy and save natural

resources.

The WIN-WIN scenarios are given in the next figure

This is only one of the new innovative ideas that lead to an improvement. There are many

other ways of reducing the energy consumption, partly by active behavioural changes of the

consumers, partly by more efficient technologies. But if you really want to have an impact, it

is wise to choose your point of intervention at the right place, the cause of the problem you

want to cure.

Concluding:

In line with the Trias Energetica( TU Delft,The Netherlands),the best way forward is to

reduce the energy demand, and the most impact is to attack the energy leaking houses and

convert them into Positive Energy Houses. Active and “passive” behavioural changes can

play an important role. Better technologies are necessary.

It is evident that for the future we need a mix of energy sources: For example we have to

increase the amount of renewable energy, we also can use partly biomass and bio fuels on the

condition that the poor do not suffer. Fossil fuels most likely are still needed for the peak

flow. Oil should be used for better purposes than combustion only. Liquid CO² (CCS)

certainly also has a place in the fight against climate change.

We have not inherited the globe from our parents,

But we have it on loan from our children.

(Native American proverb)

Cruquiusweg 142 G 1019 AK Amsterdam

Tel +31(0)20 4688528 Fax +31(0)20 4630913

www.sardaint.eu