This year’s Big 5 show will showcase an innovative building system that speeds up cast-in-place construction by leaving the forms in place as reinforcement and ready-to-finish surfaces, incorporating insulation and electric conduits when required.

Known as the EBS Structural Concrete Forms, this proprietary construction system - which will be launched on the Gulf market at the show – has been conceived by the US-based Efficient Building Systems (EBS) to incorporate the assembly line auto industry concept to the construction process.
“Our company’s philosophy is to simplify the construction process by shifting as much work as possible to be performed in a manufacturing plant. This results in more controllable, efficient work, and better overall quality,” comments Oscar Stefanutti, managing partner of EBS, which manufactures and installs permanent structural concrete forms.
Elaborating on the process, Stefanutti says: “EBS Structural Concrete Forms offers the speed and savings of precast with the strength of cast-in-place concrete. In this system, the process begins when the structure to be built is panelised to optimise manufacturing and installation times. An Efficient Building Systems proprietary software is used to produce the cut sheets and installation shop drawings that will guide a precise time and material usage.”
The panelised stay-in-place forms are manufactured in a plant and then shipped to the job site to be installed and poured with concrete under systematised procedures to ensure the efficiency of the entire process, according to him. The results are monolithic concrete residential and commercial structures comparable with the widely used form-and-pour technique; the big difference, according to him, is that the high investment that traditional forms require are eliminated, as are the cost of setting the reinforcing steel and removing the forms once the concrete is cured.
“Compared with concrete blocks, EBS Structural Concrete Forms require a fraction of the time and much less skilled labour. A form 3 m wide and 5 m long, for instance, is completed in 10 minutes per manufacturing line. Similarly, a single seven-man crew can raise 400 sq m of EBS wall or floor/roof per day. These forms are compatible with any slab, any floor, and any roof configuration,” he says.
EBS Structural Concrete Forms cover bearing and non-bearing walls, floors and roofs, and are very flexible to adapt to almost any design that can be conceived for concrete, according to the company. Since the surfaces of the forms are ready to be finished, and the insulation, electrical boxes and electrical conduits can be included in the forms, the finishing can start the day following the pour.
Form structures may reach 30-ft elevations without a floor load, with higher elevations possible, according to the company. Multiple-storey structures can be built without an additional steel frame, Stefanutti adds.
According to him, EBS Structural Concrete Forms provides the builder with faster construction times, energy efficiency and green construction, lower insurance premiums, sales differentiation through superior quality structures in terms of living, and reduced maintenance cost.
The company supports its products with its experience in large markets. “We have experience in markets with a high construction volume, we know that time, manpower and sales differentiation are critical factors in such environments,” Stefanutti comments.
From a sales point of view, EBS has an advantage as it offers a product that is superior to those of its competitors, according to him. “That is particularly clear in high-demand residential and commercial markets. The walls and roofs built with our structural concrete forms deliver that superior performance to the end-user, and that is easily perceived by the buyer,” he adds.
While the product is new in the Gulf market, it has been used in the US over the past six years. More than 400,000 sq m of these innovative forms have been built in the US and Mexico. Established in 2003, Efficient Building Systems is a full service company that provides architectural and technical support, engineering and structural design, precision pre-manufactured panelised forms, and installation.
Responding to the GCC’s need for a high quality and fast concrete construction, Efficient Building Systems has developed a production licensing programme which it will offer investors and builders at the show. This programme provides builders and investors a turnkey operation that will ensure a quick return on their investment.
Part of that franchise is a total technical support for the manufacturing as well as the installation of the product, including real-time assistance in the field.
Dwelling on the factors behind the company’s participation at the Big 5 show, Stefanutti says: “The prospects for the construction industry in the GCC are excellent. The region’s industrial, educational, scientific and tourism development programs are impressive. All these developments require people, and people have to live in appropriate places.
“The need for better housing is very real. The economies of the GCC at this time are such that this need can be fulfilled. To satisfy this need in a relative short period of time, a high building rate must be obtained. Our system of permanent concrete forms is ideally suited for this type of construction.
“Therefore, the Gulf area market and our structural concrete forms are a perfect match. We visited the region earlier, talked with developers and consultants and, after a very positive response from them, we decided to promote the system more actively. 
“In fact, from the feedback we had from consultants, builders and investors in the region, we are confident we will be opening several plants in the Gulf region over the next year. We are in the planning process of the first one with a yearly capacity for 600,000 sq m of wall and 200,000 sq m of roof and floors in two shifts.
“At the same time, we started to research builders shows in the area. It was very clear to us that the Big 5 show is the place we want to be.”
With the slowdown in the US housing sector, the company has been making inroads into the markets of Mexico and Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, besides the Gulf region.
“We expect to start operations in Mexico, but we are still evaluating the size of the plant to serve that market,” he says.
The company will be promoting its products at Stand C423 in the US pavilion.