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SEVAI RURAL TECHNOLGY CENTRE
Background
Since SEVAI was established, the
SEVAI Rural Technology centre has been involved in upgrading traditional
technologies as well as developing new ones that are versatile enough to meet
the needs of rural communities.
The following criteria have been
spelt out for deciding the technological advancement:
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Technology should intervene to
reduce and if possible eliminate drudgery.
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Technology should be within the
comprehension of the beneficiaries and suited to the rural situations
existing in different parts of the country.
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Technology should be such that
would enable users to earn a living wage, interpreted as that comparable to
the ruling agricultural wage in a particular area.
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Technology should improve skill
productivity and quality.
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Technology should be within a
low per capita investment.
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Technology should use more and
more of renewable sources of energy and less of depleting sources.
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Technology should result in
increased production and consequently additional employment though it may in
the incidence; appear to throw away people away from their present
occupation.
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Technology in the final
annotation should mean utilisation of newer range of materials available in
the countryside and production of essential goods of need, opening fresh
avenues of employment for the large masses of unskilled labour.
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Technology does not begin and
end with the improvement of tools, instruments, machines etc., but will also
embrace techniques and diversification of production.
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Technology is a continuous
process of experimentation and hence will not remain static at any time.
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Technology should retain the
artisan in the village itself and should not be an instrument to motivate
migration to urban areas.
SEVAI Rural Technology centre has
been developed, to promote and disseminate the environmentally sound
rural/appropriate technologies that emphasize the optimum uses of the locally
available skills, means and resources in order to enhance the process of rural
development thereby improving the livelihood of the rural population.
These days of increasing cost of
instruction of the dream of owning a house particularly for low income and
middle income family is becoming a difficult reality.
Hence it has become a necessity to
adopt cost effective, innovative and environmental friendly housing technology
for the construction of houses and buildings for enabling the common people to
construct houses at affordable cost.
Building technology centre
Established by SEVAI in Sirugamani is promoting Low Cost Housing Technologies
and is providing its Technical Advice and Guidance services to the SHGs and
target youth population for enabling them to construct the houses at an
costeffective outlay
Promote and propagate
environmentally sound rural appropriate technologies thereby strengthening the
capability of rural poor communities’ especially empowering women to respond to
their basic needs by creating better options and opportunities to improve the
livelihood and upgrade the socio economic condition of the rural population.
Rural Technology Centre has been
involved in upgrading traditional technologies as well as developing new ones
that are versatile enough to meet the needs of rural communities. Some of these
include solar powered cookers, improved latrines and water mains, briquettes
made from unwanted biomass, and solar food dryers. Much of the technology is
either locally developed or adapted to suit rural conditions.
RTC also goes to the local areas to
teach people how to use the equipment on these technologies. Technologies are
taken up for dissemination only after sufficient field trials for economic
viability and environmental sustainability have been conducted.
Field level monitoring of our
programs is undertaken by this organizational set up, which also ensures the
continuity of our dissemination practices. The public is informed of our
programs. Over the years, SEVAI has conducted a number of training programmes in
the following areas.
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Installation of Smokeless
Chulhas.
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Making of Pottery Liners for
Smokeless Chulhas.
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Assembling of Electronic
Ballast.
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Low-cost Construction
Techniques.
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Rabbit Rearing
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Mushroom Cultivation
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Watershed Development Plan
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Drainage Mapping
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Participatory Resource
Appraisal.
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Panchayath Resource Mapping.
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Preparation of Low-cost Teaching
Learning Materials.
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Rural Sanitation.
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Awareness Creation on women’s
health and Women Empowerment.
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Training Programme for
Children’s Writers on Science.
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Training on Identification of
Bio-diversity.
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Training on Peoples’ Planning at
Panchayath Level.
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Training of Artisans & Craftsmen
for Upgradation of Skills.
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Training on Sericulture
Practices.
SEVAI Cost Effective Housing is a
relative concept and has more to do with budgeting and it seeks to reduce the
cost construction through better management, appropriate use of local materials,
skills and technology but without sacrificing the performance and structure.
It needs to be emphasized that low
cost housing does not mean houses constructed by utilizing cheap building
materials of substandard quality.
A low cost house is designed and
constructed as any other house with regard to foundation, structure, strength
etc. the reduction in cost is achieved through effective utilization of locally
available building materials and techniques that are durable, economical,
accepted by users and not requiring costly maintenance, Economy is also achieved
finishing and/implementing them in phases.
Further, it aims at increasing the
efficiency of workers, minimizing wastage in design and space and applying good
management practices, so that shelter can be provided at prices which people can
afford.
SEVAI Building Cost
The building construction cost can be divided into two parts namely :
Building material cost : 65 to 70 %
Labour cost : 65 to 70 %
The scope for effective means of
reducing cost of construction lies with minimizing the quantity of building
materials which consumes less energy. This is possible if one could follow a
rational design procedure of the efficient use of materials. Cost of reduction
is achieved by selection of more efficient material or by an improved design.
SEVAI Avenues for reducing cost
of construction
The following are the avenues exist for reducing building construction cost:
Reduce plinth area by using thinner
wall concept.Ex.15 cms thick solid concrete block wall.
Use locally available material in an innovative
from like soil cement blocks in place of burnt
brick.
Use an energy efficiency material
which consumes less energy like concrete block in place of burnt brick.
Use environmentally friendly
materials which are substitute for conventional building components like use
R.C.C. Door and window frames in place of wooden frames. Preplan every component
of a house and rationalize the design procedure for reducing the size of the
component in the building.
Planning each and every component of
a house the wastage of materials due to demolition
of the unplanned component of the house can be avoided. Each component of the
house
shall be checked whether if it's necessary, if it is not necessary, then that
component should
not be used.
Cost reduction is possible by eliminating redundant components. Ex: Avoid
plastering the
walls, eliminating the use of plinth slabs in the foundation. Accept lower
quality finishes like
exposed brick work without plastering. Reducing standards -providing jelly work
in place of
windows, no plinth concrete
SEVAI Cost reduction through
adhoc methods
Foundation
Normally the foundation cost comes to about 10 to 15% of the total building
and usually
foundation depth of 3 to 4 ft. is adopted for single or double store building
and usually
foundation depth of 3 to 4 ft. is adopted for single or double store building
and also the
concrete bed of 6"(15 Cms.) is used for the foundation which could be avoided.
It is recommended to adopt a foundation depth of 2 ft.(0.6m) for normal soil
like gravely
soil, red soils etc., and use the uncoursed rubble masonry with the bond stones
and good
packing. Similarly the foundation width is rationalized to 2 ft. 0.6m).To avoid
cracks
formation in foundation the masonry shall be thoroughly packed with cement
mortar of 1:8
boulders and bond stones at regular intervals.
It is further suggested adopt arch foundation in ordinary soil for effecting
reduction in
construction cost up to 40%.This kind of foundation will help in bridging the
loose pockets of
soil which occurs along the foundation.
In the case black cotton and other soft soils it is recommend to use under ream
pile
foundation which saves about 20 to 25% in cost over the conventional method of
construction.
Plinth
It is suggested to adopt 1 ft. height above ground level for the plinth and
may be
constructed with a cement mortar of 1:6. The plinth slab of 4 to 6" which is
normally
adopted can be avoided and in its place brickon edge can be used for reducing
the cost. By
adopting this procedure the cost of plinth foundation can be reduced by about 35
to 50%.It
is necessary to take precaution of providing impervious blanket like concrete
slabs or stone
slabs all round the building for enabling to reduce erosion of soil and thereby
avoiding
exposure of foundation surface and crack formation.
Walling
Wall thickness of 6 to 9" is recommended for adoption in the construction of
walls all-round
the building and 41/2 " for inside walls. It is suggested to use burnt
bricks which are
immersed in water for 24 hours and then shall be used for the walls
Rat - trap bond wall
It is a cavity wall construction with added advantage of thermal comfort and
reduction in
the quantity of bricks required for masonry work. By adopting this method of
bonding of
brick masonry compared to traditional English or Flemish bond masonry, it is
possible to
reduce in the material cost of bricks by 25% and about 10to 15% in the masonry
cost. By
adopting rat-trap bond method one can create aesthetically pleasing wall surface
and
plastering can be avoided.
Concrete block walling
In view of high energy consumption by burnt brick it is suggested to use
concrete block (block hollow and solid) which consumes about only 1/3 of the
energy of the burnt bricks in its production. By using concrete block masonry
the wall thickness can be reduced from 20 cms to 15 Cms. Concrete block masonry
saves mortar consumption, speedy construction of 10 to 25% can be achieved.
Soil cement block technology
It is an alternative method of construction of walls using soil cement
blocks in place of burnt
bricks masonry. It is an energy efficient method of construction where soil
mixed with 5%
and above cement and pressed in hand operated machine and cured well and then
used in
the masonry. This masonry doesn't require plastering on both sides of the wall.
The overall
economy that could be achieved with the soil cement technology is about 15 to
20%
compared to conventional method of construction.
Doors and windows
It is suggested not to use wood for doors and windows and in its place
concrete or steel
section frames shall be used for achieving saving in cost up to 30 to
40%.Similiarly for
shutters commercially available block boards, fibre or wooden practical boards
etc., shall be
used for reducing the cost by about 25%.By adopting brick jelly work and precast
components effective ventilation could be provided to the building and also the
construction
cost could be saved up to 50% over the window components.
Lintals and Chajjas
The traditional R.C.C. lintels which are costly can be replaced by brick arches
for small
spans and save construction cost up to 30 to 40% over the traditional method of
construction. By adopting arches of different shapes a good architectural
pleasing
appearance can be given to the external wall surfaces of the brick masonry.
Roofing Normally 5"(12.5 cms)
thick R.C.C. slabs is used for roofing of residential
buildings. By adopting rationally designed insitu construction practices like
filler slab and
precast elements the construction cost of roofing can be reduced by about 20 to
25%.
Filler slabs
are normal RCC slabs where bottom half (tension) concrete portions are
replaced by filler
materials such as bricks, tiles, cellular concrete blocks, etc., These filler
materials are so
placed as not to compromise structural strength, result in replacing unwanted
and
nonfunctional tension concrete, thus resulting in economy. These are safe, sound
and
provide aesthetically pleasing pattern ceilings and also need no plaster.
Jack arch roof/floor
are easy to construct, save on cement and steel, are more appropriate in hot
climates.
These can be constructed using compressed earth blocks also as alternative to
bricks for
further economy.
Ferro cement channel/shell unit
provide an economic solution to RCC slab by providing 30 to 40% cost
reduction on
floor/roof unit over RCC slabs without compromising the strength. These being precast,
constructions are speedy, economical due to avoidance of shuttering and facilitate quality
control.
Finishing Work
The cost of finishing items like sanitary, electricity, painting etc.,
varies depending upon the
type and quality of products used in the building and its cost reduction is left
to the
individual choice and liking.
Conclusion
The above list of suggestion for reducing construction cost is of general
nature and it varies
depending upon the nature of the building to be constructed, budget of the
owner,
geographical location where the house is to be constructed, availability of the building
material, good construction management practices etc. However it is necessary
that good
planning and design methods shall be adopted by utilizing the services of an
experienced
engineer or an architect for supervising the work, thereby achieving overall
cost effectiveness to the extent of 25% in actual practice
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