Building Research Services
Roofing made from plastic.
Kenya Building Research Centre programs are structured to address the acute shortage of decent housing and a high rate of informal settlement in Kenya, attributed to the high costs of building materials and components. Lack of information on alternative building systems leads to low utilization of locally available and innovative building materials and technologies. The country also registers high foreign exchange by importing building materials over locally available resources. Inadequate building research slows down industrial production of building resources and therefore leads to housing challenges in the country.
Research programs are aligned with National Research Priorities and focus on identifying Kenya’s needs to develop affordable housing programs covering all urban centres across the country that will incorporate innovative, cost-effective, and efficient delivery models. Factors considered include using affordable, environmentally friendly building materials and efficient construction technologies and techniques. Government departments, agencies, and partners are requested to prioritize research that leads to developing affordable building materials and technologies and embracing technologies that enhance green building considerations.
Interlocking blocks made of recycled plastic.
Kenya Building Research Centre programmes are anchored on the fact that Kenya is experiencing acute shortage in decent housing and high rate of informal settlement attributed to high costs of building materials and components. Lack of information on alternative building materials and components leads to low utilization of locally available building materials and technologies. Loses are also registered in foreign exchange through importation of building materials instead of using locally available resources. Inadequate building research and industrialization in this field is sighted to be a challenge in the provision of affordable housing in the country.
Research programs is aligned to National Research Priorities focuses on identifying Kenya needs to develop affordable housing programs covering all urban centers across the country that will incorporate innovative, cost effective and efficient delivery models. Factors considered include the use of affordable environmentally friendly building materials, efficient construction technologies and techniques. Government departments, agencies and partners are requested to give priority to research that will lead to:
(i) Development of affordable building materials and technologies.
(ii) Development of technologies for enhance green building and the construction sector to make it climate smart.
This is a new discipline that begins with the production of goods from raw materials to processing of materials into the shapes and forms needed for specific applications which include – metals, plastics and ceramics. Technologies involved in the production are fundamentally different.
Material technologies is a constant evolving discipline, and new materials with interesting properties lead to new applications. The combination of different materials into composites gives rise to entirely new material properties. Materials science is closely related to materials technology.
Use of plastics components in Kenya, as building materials has been researched in developed countries.
This study will explore possibilities of inventing high use building components out of plastic to be used in none load constructions and finishes, e.g. Panels, doors, door frames, windows, window boards, fascia boards, eaves, curtain boxes, storage devices, floor skirting, cornices, architraves, quadrants, roofing tiles and many other decorative components are targeted for exploration.
The research targets a joint venture between KBRC, universities and manufacturing industries.
The objective of this project was to develop a catalogue of locally available building materials and technologies in Kenya.
To achieve this exercise, the country was zoned into eight regions. The first phase was undertaken in the Coast Region (Taita Taveta, Mombasa, Kwale, Tana River, Kilifi and Lamu counties) and is now 95% complete.
The research will be replicated in the other counties as well.
A bridge built using recycled plastic materials.
Plastic waste can be recycled to form building materials like posts and rafters which can be used in buildings roofing, support and scaffolding. These posts can easily replace wooden poles and rafters thereby easing pressure on forests. This in turn helps us conserve forests and water towers. The plastic posts also help keep the environment clean through recycling. They have an advantage over wooden ones as they cannot be destroyed by termites and they cannot rot compared with wood which requires treatment.