Plastbau Arabia Company (PAL) is set to commission a plant for the manufacture of Plastbau Building Systems (PBS) in Dammam this month.

The new facility will fabricate and supply Plastbau eDeck and eWall pre-engineered building systems for insulated concrete floor and wall applications, according to executive president Dr Mohammed Al Issa.
The new SR38 million ($10 million), which will produce Plastbau floor/roof and wall shuttering elements, has been established under the Saudi Economic Offset Programme. PAL is a joint venture between Advanced Projects and Building Systems Limited (APBSL), Plastbau Holdings (PH) and the Saudi Offset Limited Partnership (SOLP).
SOLP is a direct-equity venture development limited partnership designed to invest offset funds in effective commercial ventures in Saudi Arabia. Its founding partners are Raytheon Company (71 per cent) and Thales (29 per cent) with DevCorp International as the general partner.
Other factories are already being planned in Jeddah and Riyadh in the next few years.
“Plastbau is a name that has come to signify insulated concrete formwork (ICF) shuttering moulded from expanded and pre-reinforced polystyrene (EPS) according to its patented concrete building technology,” says Dr Al Issa.
The Plastbau system is essentially based on the use of steel and polystyrene, which benefits the national economy by adding value to locally-produced products, while simultaneously reducing the need for imported wooden shuttering material.
Dr Isa explains: “The new technology offers a number of advantages, which include minimising of the use of formwork, usually imported in huge quantities and at exorbitant costs and instead, allows the use of locally-manufactured Saudi polystyrene.”
Elaborating on the advantages of the system, he continues: “The Plastbau system also reduces pollution and, thanks to its insulation properties, cuts down on power consumption. In addition, studies also prove that the effective thermal insulation it provides reduces air-conditioning loads.
“The system also cuts down on construction time by as much as 70 per cent, which in turn cuts labour and building costs. Plastbau eDeck and eWall systems were successfully used to construct a 2,000 sq m two-storey sample building in Saudi Arabia.”
Material, construction and energy cost savings were possible because of the design flexibility, speed of construction, simplicity of connections and integrated insulation of the system, says Dr Issa, confirming that the overall performance of the project proved that the system is technically and commercially viable for the kingdom.
In addition, Plastbau has received an encouraging response to its products that were displayed at two major exhibitions held recently in Dammam and Jeddah.

eDeck & eWall
Plastbau eDeck and Plastbau eWall are pre-engineered and supplied to suit the structural demand and architectural flexibility of cast construction with a seamless integration of thermal and sound insulation.
The unique feature of the Plastbau system is that it uses polystyrene blocks as formwork during the construction stage, which stays on during the life of the building, providing excellent thermal insulation.
“A modular construction technique and the very light weight of the panels, reduces the total time taken for construction drastically and makes a very low requirement on manpower,” he reiterates.
Pre-engineered and factory-installed steel cages, which eliminate the need for heavy lift cranes at the site, reinforce the polystyrene forms.
“Furthermore, the final quality of the building is exceptional as the polystyrene allows the concrete to retain its water content and therefore cure efficiently and achieve the rated strength. The monolithic concrete structure resulting from the use Plastbau’s building system also enhances the earthquake-resistance capacity of structures. Blast-proof buildings with double-wall designs can also be built with minimal changes in the construction practices,” says Dr Isa.
He continues: “The system that will initially be introduced in the region will include two products: wall panels and metal floor/roof panels. Since the Plastbau system is structurally pre-engineered, it acts as a one-way joist system and thereby eliminates the extra use of steel and concrete.
“A major breakthrough in this system is the ability to produce a composite forming section made out of polystyrene and steel, which permits the use of variable thicknesses of concrete joist (10cm to 29cm) and insulation thickness of polystyrene (3 cm to 8 cm).”
“The lightweight feature does not compromise the ability of the system to sustain loading,” he adds. “In addition, it has continuous holes (of a diameter of 12 cm) in the polystyrene, which can be used to run service lines as well as ventilating ducts.”
The Plastbau wall panels comprise two slabs of high-density expanded polystyrene. The core is pre-reinforced with three-dimensional triangulated steel bars. The reinforcement is composed of two welded wire fabrics tied together horizontally and diagonally.
Dr Al Issa says the tie rods, responsible for holding the forms together and capable of withstanding the fluid pressure of concrete, are held together by special screw caps made from pre-reinforced plastic.
“These ties avoid any thermal bridging and can withstand a maximum concrete fluid pressure of 120 kg, enabling the casting of a 3-m-high wall in one pouring,” he adds.
Dr Al Issa believes that in addition to its advantages for residential dwellings, the Plastbau system is ideally suited for Saudi Arabia’s plans to build many new schools across the kingdom.
“The polystyrene forms automatically provide sound insulation and the speed of construction could result in enormous cost savings for the government,” he summarises.