South African Invention Exhibited at United Nations by Smithsonian Institute

We are honoured to have been selected by the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum - Rockefeller Foundation Design with the other 90 percent cities to showcase the South African designed and patented plastic formwork construction technology as an innovative solution to address the unprecedented growth of informal settlements globally combined with skills transfer and job creation.

Every year, nearly seventy million people, or 200 000 a day, move from rural areas to urban cities. In South Africa alone, more than 2.2 million homes are currently needed, and an additional 180 000 homes will be needed every year to keep pace with rapid urbanisation. The Plastic Formwork System is a method of building cast-in-place reinforced concrete structures, in which the walls of a house can be built in as little as a day by unskilled labourers with locally sourced materials and little waste. The system is comprised of square plastic components that join together to form wall panels from which the house is assembled. The house’s infrastructure - steel-reinforcement bars, conduits, window and door frames, pipes and other fittings - is positioned on the wall. Once in place, these elements are sandwiched between a second layer of panels, forming a cavity into which a lightweight concrete mortar is poured. After the mortar dries overnight, the Plastic Formwork panels are removed and reassembled for use at the next housing site, minimising waste and transportation needs.

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