JIMMA INITITUTE OF THECNOLOGY

APPROPRIATE BUILDING MATERIALS

Title page

Submitted by:- INS ESHETU

IN ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING

Acknowledgement

I
Abstract

II
List of Acronyms
A.A Addis Ababa
AACAHCD Addis Ababa city Administration Housing Construction and
Development Bureau
AAHDPO Addis Ababa Housing Development Project Office
AU Africa Union
CSBs Calcium silicate Boards
CSEB Compressed Stabilized Earth Block
CBM Conventional Building Materials
CCM Conventional Construction Material
ETB Ethiopian Birr
HCB Hollow Concrete Block
STVS Selam technical and vocational school
UN United Nations

III
 Table of Contents

Contents page
Title page .................................................................................................................................

Acknowledgement .................................................................................................................. I

Abstract ................................................................................................................................. II

List of Acronyms ................................................................................................................. III

Table of Contents ................................................................................................................. IV

1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1

1.1. Rationale ................................................................................................................. 2

1.2. Statement of the problem ........................................................................................ 2

1.3. Objectives ................................................................................................................ 2

1.4. Significance of the study ......................................................................................... 2

1.5. Scope and limitation ................................................................................................ 3

2. Review of literature ........................................................................................................ 3

Need for alternatives .......................................................................................................... 3

Appropriate building technology- Policy in Ethiopia ........................................................ 4

Impact of alternative building technology ......................................................................... 5

2.1. Production of construction materials and its energy consumption ......................... 6

2.2. Appropriate building technologies and materials in Ethiopia ................................. 7

3. Implementation of alternative building material ............................................................ 8

3.1. 10

3.1.1. References ...................................................................................................... 11

IV
Chart 1 Concrete Blocks supply ............................................................................................ 8
Chart 2 Average Temperature................................................................................................ 9
Chart 3 minimum and maximum temperature ....................................................................... 9

Table 1 Raw materials for making Agrostone , ..................................................................... 7

Table 3 Demographic data of Ethiopia .................................................................................. 8
Table 10 Cost comparison of Roof materials ...................................................................... 10

Figure 1 Life cycle building material .................................................................................... 7

Figure 3 Agrostone door production ...................................................................................... 8

V
1. Introduction
A wide range of buildings and construction facilities are required by our modern society,
including residential and commercial property, manufacturing facilities, schools and
hospitals, and a complex transport infrastructure. The construction industry is a major sector
of the economy of most nations. The industry is also a very large consumer of minerals and
mineral-based materials ranging from aggregates, cement, bricks and tiles to structural steel
glass and ceramics.

A large number of new buildings will need to be built in developing countries during the
next generation. All these require massive building programs to create the necessary homes,
factories, offices, schools. Most of the problem of these countries are related to dependency
of factory- made building materials such as cement, steel, glass, and etc. Ethiopia is now
trying to make a breakthrough to decrease the dependency on cement and concrete blocks
by adopting different technology for producing exterior and interior walls, partition boards,
roof tiles, doors, decoration reliefs and so on.

The use of the lternative building materials has been signified to have a various advantages
over the conventional materials. A few examples of the advantages are the reduction of the
labours, simplifies construction techniques, cost reduction, less volume of building materials
increased environmental and construction site cleanliness. Apart of that, provide a safer and
more organized construction site, and reduce the completion time of construction. All these
indirectly signify that alternative building materials much more economical in terms of
construction cost than the conventional system, even though the construction cost involves
all matters either initially or throughout the building’s life. And the focus of this study will
be on generating a construction cost comparison using conventional building materials and
Alternative building materials.

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 1.1. Rationale
Building construction in Ethiopia is increasing in rapid rate and therefore the need of
building materials. Growing population increasing need of building construction. A huge
amount of building materials like glass, steel etc. is to import and building materials are
dependent on factories this increase the costs for materials, construction time and speed,
complicate construction techniques, In addition, most of currently used materials have a high
impact on the environment, and there is need to look for alternative solutions. The use of
alternative materials, produced in the country could be a possible solution to decrease the
costs and the environmental impact.

1.2. Statement of the problem

 Which alternative building materials are produced in Ethiopia?
 Which benefits could be achieved by implementation of building materials in future
constructions instead of the conventional?

1.3. Objectives
 To identify factors that challenge building construction and to show which alternative
building materials usable for construction are produced in Ethiopia could reduce
these challenges.
 To compare/assess building materials produced in the country with conventional
materials and its impact on construction, affordability and environment

1.4. Significance of the study

Nowadays building construction in Ethiopia is very rapidly increasing and the use of modern
technologies for construction and building materials are common. The industry sector for
production of building material in Ethiopia is growing, all this are a signs of rising needs for
building materials and development

It is known, that the construction of buildings consume vast amounts of the earth’s limited
resources in the energy used by their occupants and in the production of materials - only the
cement industry produce ca.10% of the world’s CO2 emissions. The use of such materials

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have a huge impacts on costs and environment and there is an urgent need to look for
alternatives.

1.5. Scope and limitation

This research concerns about comparisons of alternative building materials with
conventional common building materials currently used in Ethiopia with respect to their
appropriateness. It is carried out on the example of a condominium building in The study
covers some materials used for upper structure, which include external and internal walls
without plaster, internal doors, and roof cover. Because of shortage of time, it was not
possible to consider all materials used for the building envelope.

The sample for the conventional building materials used is taken on Condominium houses,
public schools, hospitals and service buildings like store and workshops in

2. Review of literature

Need for alternatives

Professor C. Jayasinghe put in his research that construction all over the world is in need of
many alternative building materials since the conventional materials are in short supply and
also cause degradation of the environment1. For popularization of alternative materials, it is
necessary to ensure that they are generally cost effective. However, the cost effectiveness
should not only be based on initial capital cost but the whole life cycle costing It is shown
that the alternative building materials and systems would have either reduced or similar
impact on life cycle cost, compared to the conventional building materials.

The increased awareness of environmental impacts, some restrictions were imposed on

extraction of natural resources for the manufacturing of building materials. In order to
quantify these effects, researchers have evaluated the embodied energy of different building
materials, which consists of energy used in manufacturing and transporting building
material. The environmental issues to be addressed include the need to reduce the levels of
CO2 emissions, reduction in authorization of new quarries, obligation to rehabilitate quarry
workings and prohibition of material extraction from riverbeds etc.

1
(Venkatarama Reddy, 2004) Sustainable building technologies, India
3
Steel, cement, glass, aluminium, plastics, bricks, etc. are energy-intensive materials,
commonly used for building construction. Generally, these materials are transported over
great distances. Extensive use of these materials can drain the energy resources and
adversely affect the environment. On the other hand, it is difficult to meet the ever-growing
demand for buildings by adopting only energy efficient traditional materials (like mud,
thatch, timber, etc.) and construction methods. Hence, there is a need to optimize the
utilization of available energy resources and raw materials to produce simple, energy
efficient, environment friendly and sustainable building alternatives and techniques to
satisfy the increasing demand for buildings.

Appropriate building technology- Policy in Ethiopia

In the report, written by Lisa F2 is stated, that in Ethiopia Policies are needed to increase
access to cheap and appropriate building materials, and also that support is needed for and
support research and development into innovative technologies. Equally urgent is the need
to improve the quantity and quality of skilled workers in the informal housing sector.
Environmentally-sound construction design and techniques, and energy-efficient, low-
polluting technologies should be made more widely In fact, the national urban development
policy in Ethiopia is issued in 2005, which are developing the construction industry, through
the implementation of. The government intervention in line with facilitating housing finance,
land, capacity building, bulk purchase of industrial product of construction material,
organizing medium and small scale enterprises, introducing new construction technology
that minimize cost and time, standardizing the housing could be mentioned. The policy also
encourages real estate developers through the facilitation of developed land, strengthen the
system for ensuring property rights, supporting the developers to utilize local materials,
marketing, and create forums of discussion for sustainable problem solving and encourage
the investors. Similarly, cooperatives have got attention through the facilitation of developed
land, standard typologies, etc. Protecting the construction of illegal houses or those does not
confirm to the standard and plan has got emphasis in the policy.

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Impact of alternative building technology
According to B. V. Venkatarama3 Reddy, features of the alternative building technologies
are Energy efficient, consuming less than half of the energy required for conventional
building methods leading to energy conservation. From importance is in addition that the
material production system can be decentralized and also can be done on the site, with small-
scale operations. Such increase local employment and it reduce cost and energy involved in
transportation of building products.

Likewise Deepak Godhi and Priya Joseph4 stated in their report ‘ARCHITECTURE - Time
Space & People’, the green economic report initiative by the UNEP gives convincing
evidence for policy makers, designers and leaders from all arenas of society to invest in and
design with clean technologies, renewable energy, natural materials. There is a constant need
for architects and planners to implement these measures to be sustainable, environmentally
and economically, and the sustainable approach to development and architecture will vary
in scope and scale of interventions. Architecture of the future have to blend with the modern
urban fabric, woven with the traditional cultural and sociological needs of the community
using environmentally sustainable processes and materials. As more and more buildings use
glass facades, and stone imported from far, high energy consuming materials makes us move
one step backwards in the context of sustainability and become more obsolete than ever. A
material which is brought from far away, processed with high consumption of energy have
an enormous footprint and is in no way sustainable. It is necessary to find construction
material which are easily available, rich in strength, texture and feel. The use of Bamboo,
mud, straw and other natural and locally available materials could provide sustainable
architecture, but it has always been assumed that the use of such natural materials is only
used for poor homes and small structures, but there are examples of airports, embassies,
hospitals and factories which shows the opposite. Further they stated in their report, the use
of natural materials is mostly more labour intensive, which create more jobs and livelihood
for many while reducing the carbon emissions.

3
B. V. Venkatarama (2004), sustainable building technologies, India
4
Deepak Godhi, Priya Josep, ‘ARCHITECTURE - Time Space & People’, March 2011
5
Construction techniques: - use simple construction techniques and unskilled labours so
that it will create job opportunists.

Aspect Remarks
Low very low or benign emissions to the environment in production, use or
environmental disposal
impact no toxic releases, benefits environment indirectly through its efficiency
Resource efficient utilization of material resources, often using recycled material
efficiency based on renewable resources and energy (or minimal use of non-
renewable resources)
efficient consumption of energy in production and use
durable, reusable and/or recyclable
Economic economically cost-effective compared to conventional product or
advantages service incorporate externalities in market price
can be financed by the user through various financial saving streams
improve productivity or competitiveness of industry and commerce
Social enhance or maintain living standards or quality of life
advantages readily available and accessible by all classes and cultures
consistent with themes of decentralization, individual control,
democracy
Source:

2.1. Production of construction materials and its energy consumption

The embodied energy of a material is the energy required the abstract, process, manufacture
and deliver it. The existing Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) databases from various regions
around the world can be used as rough guides for identifying the probable relative intensity
of embodied energy between common building materials. For instance, wooden structures
tend to have a lower embodied energy than concrete buildings. As well it is generally the
case that earthen, unfired adobe bricks will have a lower embodied energy than cement or
fired clay brick products, due to the minimal energy inputs required for creating adobe blocks
relative to the alternatives. And it is also generally the case that clay fired bricks will have a
lower embodied energy than cement based blocks. And lime products will generally have a
lower embodied energy than cement based products. Accordingly, some materials require
large amounts of energy to manufacture. The embodied energy of construction material
depends directly to specific type of production process. To change one construction raw
material from to another during manufacturing process, it needs energy. However, the
amount of energy varies depending on the nature of the material, type of process, etc.

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Although these are generalizations, and the embodied energy of materials will differ in their
absolute values from region to region, which materials are most likely to have a lesser
environmental impact than others UN-HABITAT (2011)

Figure 1 Life cycle building material

2.2. Appropriate building technologies and materials in Ethiopia

natural minerals as fillers, magnesium-based chemicals as a binder and fiberglass as
reinforcement. It is an alternative low-cost eco-friendly building material that reduces the
cost of wall construction significantly while attaining the desired physical and mechanical
properties. The technology of Agro stone panel production had been practiced in Asia and
Latin America. All countries adopted the Agro stone panel production technology based on
the availability of the raw materials on their own countries (Taffese, 2012)

Table 1 Raw materials for making Agrostone ,

No Description Consumption
Quantity/board (kg) Weight (%)
1 Magnesium 18.00 47.75
Oxide(MgO)
2 Magnesium 12.51 29.01
chloride(MgCl2)
3 Fiberglass 1.01 2.34
4 Red ash/pumice 8.33 19.32

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 5 Bagasse 3.03 7.02
6 Steel bar(4mm) 0.11 0.25
7 Amixtures 0.12 0.27
Total 43.11 99.96
Source: (ASPC, 2007)

Figure 2 Agrostone door production

3. Implementation of alternative building material

18,000
concrete blocks
15,639
16,000

14,000

12,000
10,039 10,400
9,568 9,763 9,639 9,810
10,000 9,044

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Chart 1 Concrete Blocks supply

Population growth and urbanization in Ethiopia

Table 2 Demographic data of Ethiopia

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Population growth and urbanization is also the main factor for raise the need of construction
on the country

Climate

Ārba Minch’ is located at low land rift valley because it’s elevation from sea level, [1269 m]
it is hot it’s the average of 30-40 c0.at the specific point of the site the neighbourhood green
surroundings, water bodies, physical barriers like:-

Sea breath from Lake ʼ abāyā and cāmo

Chart 2 Average Temperature Chart 3 minimum and maximum temperature

Labour cost -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- Cost add with
masonry
Sub total 318.62 238.42 261.73 139.26 206.83 180.80
FINISHING
WORK
Mortar for 66.49 66.49 -------- ------- -------- --------
Plastering/varnish
Labour cost -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- Cost add with
plastering
Painting 21.53 21.53 -------- 21.53 -------- --------
Sub total 88.02 88.02 0 0 0 0
GRAND TOTAL 406.64 326.44 241.62 21.53 206.83 180.80
41% 49%
Source: Construction Design Department of AAHDPO and site data

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Table 3 Cost comparison of Roof materials

s galvanized EGA Stone cooler roof

400, 0.5mm thick
Unit price birr/PC
Unit Price Birr/m2 185.18

3.1.
No Conventional building materials Alternative building
materials
1 For Foundation Masonry, Cement, Aggregate
Sand, and steel ------------
2 For Walls HCB, Cement, Sand and Hydraform and
Plastering Agrostone panels
3 For Floor Slab Corrugated Iron Sheet ------------
4 For Roofing Corrugated Iron Sheet Stone colour roof tiles
5 For Metals for Doors, wood panels, Agrostone panels
Door/window glasses

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 3.1.1. References
Afkari, A. (2010). Sustainable Low-Cost Housing in Ethiopia. A Study of cement stablized
soil block (CSSB)-Technology.

Ali, M. M. (2012). Design and Development of Cost Efficient Houses. The challenges and
prospects of Affordability.

ASPC. (2007). A.A housing development project office. In Adola Magnesium Oxide
Factiory. Addis Ababa.

CIB, U.-I. a. (2002). sustainable construction in developing countries. Agenda 21, pp. 39-
45.

EIABC, E. i. (2012). Building Ethiopia: sustainability and innovation in Architecture and

Design. (H. S. Zegeye Cherenet, Ed.) Vol I.

Elkhalifa, A. A. (n.d.). Appropriate and Innovative Local Building Materials and

Technologies for Housing in the Sudan.

Emmanual. (2004). Estimating the environmental suitability of wall materials: Preliminary

results from Sri Lanka. In Building and Environment.

EthiopiaCRGE, F. D. (2011). Ethiopia’s Climate-Resilient. Green economy strategy.

IDO, U. (1980). Appropriate industrial technology for construction and building materials.
New York.

Material, S. O. (2008). Asmamaw Tadege & Abebe Dinku. EACE Journal, Vol.4.

Plessis, D. (2002). Agenda 21 for Sustainable Construction in Developing Countries.

Salgado, M. &. (2007). The Building Material Selection Importance at the Building Design.
Proceedings of the CIB World Building Congress, Construction for Development.

Taffese, W. Z. (2012). Low-Cost Eco-Friendly Building Material: A case study in Ethiopia.

International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation.

UN-HABITAT. (2006). Enabling shelter strategies Review of experience from two decades
of implementation. In U. N. Programme. Nairobi.

UN-HABITAT. (2010). The Ethiopia Case of Condominium Housing. In U. N. Programme.

Nairobi.
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UN-HABITAT. (2011). Sustainable Building Practices for Low Cost Housing. Implications
for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Developing Countries.

Venkatarama Reddy, B. (2004). Sustainable building technologies. Current Science, pp.

899-907.

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