| THE
BUILDING ENVELOPE
The building envelope which comprises the roof, walls,
windows and floors of a building is what controls heat
gain in summer and heat loss in winter.
Building materials and design that maximises the exclusion
of heat and direct
sunshine in summer and trap and store heat and prevent
heat loss in the winter increase the effectiveness of
the building envelope creating much more comfortable
and less expensive to maintain living environments.
The introduction of Energy Efficiency Standards for
Buildings through legislation which will be promulgated
by 2008 in South Africa and will intervene to reduce
peak electricity demand usage and slow the growth in
overall power demand. Thermal insulation will then be
a pre-requisite in future building design.
Ultimately energy efficiency standards will be part
of the Building Code of South Africa.
Why wait?
Expanded polystyrene is a cost effective material for
thermal insulation in a number of building applications.
ABP are focused on bringing this and other manifold
advantages of EPS in building to the South African market
Affordable
Housing
There
is a large and growing gap in the South African housing
market for “Affordable Housing” –
house priced between R250 -750,000 and close to urban
centres. ABPPolyblock is an ideal material for the construction
of these types of houses as the building time of the
units is reduced and once built the material of construction
ensures a fully insulated home providing better living
comfort and reduced ongoing energy costs. Below are
two typical plans of ABPPolyblock affordable homes
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