Leading building systems and products provider Eco-Block has recently opened an office in Bahrain to provide Eco-Block insulating concrete forms to the Middle East market.

These products, which will be available on the market shortly, will be displayed at gulfBID.
Dedicated to bringing innovative building products and technologies to the GCC market, Eco-Block is a world leader in its field, offering products in the US, Canada, Australia, and now the Middle East.
Chris Jensen, a partner with the firm, says Eco-Block is just what the market needs. “The Gulf countries are facing issues that are common to the Middle East construction market: high housing demands, extreme temperatures and lengthy construction times. By using insulation to form concrete walls, we can not only provide a super-insulated home that is built in half the time, but we can do it in almost all cases more cost-effectively than traditional construction,” he says.
The Eco-Block system includes two panels of polystyrene that are joined by high-density plastic connectors. The forms are first stacked to shape walls and then concrete is pumped into the cavity. The technology is being used widely in the US, Canada, and Australia.
Jensen believes that Eco-Block will be especially helpful to the GCC. “The Gulf requires to build millions of homes per year over the next decade, but is only producing a fraction of that amount. Additionally, the contractors are going to face significant labour issues when reforms take place. Think of the overheads contractors can cut if homes are built in half the time and how happy the public will be when homes are given to them in half the time that was originally promised,” he comments.
 Eco-Block products are described as being energy-efficient and versatile. Buildings constructed using the Eco-Block system significantly reduce construction time by eliminating the need for complicated foundation work. The Eco-Block system also does away with the need for filling in wall voids with concrete blocks since it forms a continuous, load-bearing, steel-reinforced concrete wall.
 “The insulation qualities of Eco-Block exceed those of all other construction technologies currently in use in the GCC,” he explains. “With a solid concrete wall and five inches of EPS (expanded polystyrene) insulation, Eco-Block forms result in an R-value rating of 22 -18 times that of traditional methods and four times the rating of other methods in use, such as EPS ‘sandwich’ blocks and Siporex blocks (The R-value refers to the insulation rating of a building with higher scores indicating better insulation quality).”
“Eco-Block can be used for both residential and commercial construction. When used as the primary load-bearing structure, Eco-Block-formed walls can be used as any solid concrete wall is used in construction – and have been used for buildings five storeys and higher. When used in conjunction with steel post-and-beam construction methods, Eco-Block-formed walls make perfect infill for low and mid-rise buildings.
“Eco-Block also excels in one of the most important areas – cost. Most structures will see an overall decrease in building cost by using Eco-Block. This result is truly remarkable, given that Eco-Bock is superior in every engineering area when compared with post-and-beam architecture. Cost savings are achieved because Eco-Block saves multiple months in construction time, reduces HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) capital requirements by about half, and eliminates forming (shuttering) requirements used with traditional columns and beams,” he concludes.
Further information about Eco-Block is available at www.eco-block.com.