Documentation of the Demonstration Housing Project

at
Raipur Phulwari, Amethi, Uttar Pradesh

New Delhi
2012
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 CONTENTS

1 Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Origin of the project
1.3 Resource Mapping
1.4 Cost affective technologies
1.5 Project brief
1.6 Location
1.7 Target community
1.8 Date of implementation

2 Design Brief
2.1 Target community
2.2 Design description of dwelling units

3 The Built forms

3.1 Architectural aspects
3.2 Structural aspects
4 Implementation process

5 Technical Review
5.1 Architectural, Structural and Construction observations
5.2 Socio-cultural aspects
5.3 Construction technologies and management
5.4 Community ownership and participatory process of construction

6 Recommendations and Way Forward

6.1 As applicable to current project
6.2 As applicable to future Projects

Annexure I: Assessment Team Members

Annexure II: Comparative rate analysis for cost affective technologies and conventional
technologies
1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background

Housing is among the most basic requirement for human survival. It assumes great
meaning for the poor as it lays the base for a life of self-esteem by conferring a distinct,
secure identity for them. The Government of India has paid close attention to addressing
the need for housing since independence. Cities and towns have a vital role in India's
socio-economic transformation and change. Host to about 30 per cent of the country's
population, they contribute 50-55 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). At the
end of the 10th Five Year Plan, the housing shortage was estimated to be 24.7 million
housing units. An estimated 99% of this housing shortage pertains to households falling
in the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and Low Income Group (LIG) segments in
urban areas. The problem is aggravated by urban rural migration. As per the 2011
census, for the first time since Independence, the absolute increase in population is more
in urban areas that in rural areas. The level of urbanization increased from 27.81% in
2001 Census to 31.16% in 2011 Census and the proportion of rural population declined
from 72.19% to 68.84%. This is adding more and more pressure in urban housing sector
and on urban basic services and infrastructure.

Addressing housing shortage is also an important strategy of poverty alleviation in India.

In order to mitigate the housing shortage in consonance with the changing policy
environment, the Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation has announced
the National Housing and Habitat Policy, 2007. This Policy focuses on affordable
housing for all with special emphasis on economically weaker sections of the society.
The Ministry has also has formulated a new scheme of Integrated Housing and Slum
Development Programme (IHSDP) which is applicable to all cities and towns as per 2001
census not covered under JNNURM. This scheme aims at combining the existing
schemes of VAMBAY and NSDP under the new IHSDP scheme for having an integrated
approach in ameliorating the conditions of urban slum dwellers who do not possess
adequate shelter and reside in dilapidated conditions. Understanding the need to
promote technologies that are affordable, yet using materials that are commonly used in
urban housing construction, the Building Materials Technology Promotion Council took
up a housing project in Amethi to demonstrate cost effective appropriate technologies
that can be replicated by aspiring house builders.

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1.2 Origin of the Project:

From 1990, BMTPC has been working towards operationalising a comprehensive and
integrated approach for promotion of cost-effective, environment-friendly & energy-
efficient innovative building materials and construction technologies for housing in urban
and rural areas including disaster resistant practices. Understanding the importance of
BMTPCs role in ensuring ‘shelter for all’ objectives of the Government and the need to
promote appropriate cost effective technologies, it embarked on a pilot demonstration
project at Raipur-Phulwari village in Amethi, Sultanpur district, Uttar Pradesh. The pilot
aimed to demonstrate cost effective, disaster resistant construction technologies and
also build capacities in local masons in the use of these technologies. The technologies
were chosen after a resource mapping study of locally available materials and human
resources were carried out by the BMTPC team.

1.3 Resource mapping

THE CONTEXT
The word ‘resource mapping’ means SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
mapping the existing local resources, which HUMAN
RESOURCES
can be used in the future.The main objective
of the resource mapping exercise is to
explore and map the various indigenous
resources available so as to facilitate
sustainable housing delivery and
MATERIAL
RESOURCES
infrastructure development. Resource
mapping is very much contextual to the place and time. To understand the context we
have to understand the geo-climatic condition, political and social scenario of Raipur
Phulwari and Amethi.

The two types of resources that were explored included a) Material resources and b)
Human resources. Technologies and designs that were low-cost, labour-intensive and
had the least impact on the environment were adopted. For a demonstrative housing
construction such as this, the two major elements are the walling and the roofing. Since
bricks were available in plenty, it was decided to utilise it in a conservative manner in the
walls using the rat trap bond for construction. As for the roof, since the entire aspiring
house owners dreamt of a concrete roof over their heads, it was decided that the filler
slab method of concreting will be used in the construction. Both these construction
methodologies have been found to be cost effective as well as disaster resilient. Since
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tiles were not available in plenty, it was decided to use bricks to replace the concrete in
the compression zone to make it cost-effective.

1.4 Cost effective technologies

Under Normal With vertical bars for
Brickwork in Rat-trap Bond:Rat- Circumstances disaster resistance
trap bonded brickwork is a method of
brick bonding which optimises the
use of building materials. Bricks are
placed on edge in 1:6 cement mortar
as shown in the pictures below. This
uses 19% less bricks, 54% less
cement mortar and has 25% less
dead weight. These walls have very
good insulation capacities and
disaster-resistant features can be
incorporated as shown.

No plastering of the outside face is

required and the wall usually is quite
aesthetically pleasing and the air
gaps created within the wall help
make the house thermally
comfortable. In summer the
temperature inside the house is
usually atleast 5 degrees lower that the outside ambient temperature and vice versa in
winter. Thus this technology is very much efficient for places such as Amethi where the
summer temperatures soar upto 40 degrees and the winter temperatures are below 5
degrees.

Filler Slab Concreting: In any slab, concrete withstands the load due to compressive
forces and steel reinforcement bears the load due to tensile forces. In any simple roof,
the upper part of the slab above the neutral axis is subjected to compressive forces while
the lower part is subjected to tensile forces. Thus, the concrete in the lower part of the
slab is redundant except for bonding with the reinforcement. This can be replaced with
any filler material that is lighter and cheap - to cut down the self-weight of the slab and

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the costs by 25%. The simplest fillers will be a pair of low grade Raniganj tiles, which
also enhance the insulation capacities of the slab or it could be a pair of bricks.

Filler slab with a pair of Raniganj tiles as filler Sectional View

Filler slab with a pair of Bricks as filler.

1.5 Project Brief

The project is a group housing project aimed to provide permanent shelter to twenty-four
families as a part of the pilot demonstration initiative. The site is plain land adjoining
agricultural fields with a paved road access to the south corner of the plot as in the layout
plan. The twenty four Dwelling Units (DUs) are arranged in three two-storied apartments
with a built up area of 38.22 sq.mt each. Each Dwelling unit consists of one living room,
one bedroom, a kitchen, one separate bath and WC. The three apartment buildings are
placed in a C shape with a central open area that provides space for circulation.

The Project, called “Demonstration Housing Project’ of BMTPC at Raipur Phulwari,

Amethi,Sultanpur District, Uttar Pradesh” was located in Uttar Pradesh as it was one of

←Raipur Phulwari

AMETHI RAILWAYSTATION→
the states with a large housing deficit. Sultanpur is among the sixty threedistricts of UP

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which have not achieved saturation in Indira AwasYojana housing.Sultanpur, the
fifteenth most populous district in Uttar Pradesh is mainly an agricultural district.

Raipur Phulwari is a mid-sized village about 2.5 km from the Amethi Railway Stationwith
a population of about 1803 persons living in around 283 households of whom about 14%
belong to Scheduled Caste families. There were a total of 77 BPL families in the village
as per the Below Poverty Line Survey (2002), but only 3 in the IAY waiting list. The
village was thus an ideal location for initiating a project that would not only provide
housing to 24 families from the village, but would also demonstrate technologies that
other families could use to construct their own houses. The total project construction cost
was one crore seven lakh rupees.

1.6 Location

The village Raipur Phulwari (26°09 N, 81°

41E, at an elevation of 100 feet)is located in
Amethi Tehsil of Sultanpur district in the
State of Uttar Pradesh in India.Amethi is one
of the seven municipal/ town areas in the
district and is also the most developed. It is
situated in the south-west on the Sultanpur-
Raebareli Road at about 40 km from
Sultanpur city. It has developed into an
industrial area due to its geographical
situation and also due to it being connected
to the Indian railways network.

1.7 Target community

The village Raipur Phulwari has a present population of 1803 persons with 931 males
and 872 females.The beneficiaries were selectedby the local Nagar Palika from among
the BPL and Dalit families.The average household size varies from four to five. While
most are nuclear families, there are few exceptions wherein three generations live
together within the same dwelling unit.Lottery system was adopted for allocation of flats
and the lottery register is maintained at the Nagar Palika office.

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1.8 Date of implementation

The foundation stone for this important project was laid by Sri. Rahul Gandhi, M.P on
the15th of July 2008. The actual construction activities commenced on the ground in
July2009 and were completed by October 2010.

2.0 DESIGN BRIEF

2.1 Target community

The site plan below shows the housing blocks arranged in a C-shaped cluster with a
single large open space, the physical infrastructure and amenities.

Figure 1: Site layout showing primary C shaped circulation loop with the entrances to the
individual buildings.

The primary circulation within the site is a single C-shaped loop and all the building
entrances are from this single loop. This makes the layout legible to both residents and
visitors as one can orient oneself easily. Moreover, since this is the only

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primarycirculation path, it invites constant use by residents and therefore lends itself well
to the informal systems of unobtrusive surveillance creating a truly "defensible" and
secure space for the residents of the colony. The path acts as a "hard" transition
between the private zones representing the dwelling units and the community space at
the center which acts as a focus area for the residents. The layout of the housing makes
it possible forpeople of all ages, classes, and family configurations to live in close
proximity.

2.2 Design description of Dwelling units

A typical dwelling unit consists of a Living room of size (2.42m x 3.83m), a bed room of
size (2.420m x 2.76m), a kitchen (2.42mx 1.65m), a bath (1.40mx 1.00m) and a toilet of
size 0.90m X 1.05m. The layout is as shown in the next page.

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The entrance door leads on to the living room which has a direct link to the kitchen. The
bed room has its own privacy with the bath and toilet close to, but not directly attached,
so as to facilitate its use for visitors when required. The layout of the rooms is such that it
brings the individuals closer together and they can easily converse with another
household member regardless of where in the house they are. For parents with small
children who need supervision, every corner is in easy view. The windows and the
verandah enhance the spaces and makes it feel bigger that it actually is.

Interior of the rooms

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3.0 THE BUILT FORMS

3.1 Architectural aspects

There are three two-storied buildings with eightdwelling units (DUs) in each building (four
in each floor separated by two staircase blocks in between). The plans inside the
dwelling units show hierarchy of spaces in term of functionality and usage, as the living
room leads on to the kitchen and to the private areas of bed room, bath and toilet. The
carpet area of each dwelling unit is about 25 sq. m.

Learning from local practices prior to designing:

A typical vernacular design inside the settlement was studied and found that within a homestead,
individual buildings were grouped around a centrally placed courtyard, which was actively used for
outdoor works and leisure by all the family members. The emphasis is on the use of open space in the
courtyard. A similar concept has been portrayed herein.

The elevations of the buildings (all similar in size and form) are simple yet articulate with
the use of faced brick-work coloured red and slabs and concrete portions coloured white.
The clear height in each storey is adequate.The site plan has also promoted the usage
of the open space in front, more to be culturally compatible with the target community.

3.2 Structural Aspects

These buildings are load-bearing structures with adequate reinforcements provided for
disaster-resilience.

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4.0 IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS

The project was implemented through a contractor well experienced in grounding such
housing projects using such innovative technologies, particularly a very similar project in
Bangalore. The contractor, AwasVikas Limited, is a company of the Rajasthan Housing
Board. A participatory process was adopted in selecting the land for the project.
However, the major constraint was that Government or community land was not
available inside this residentially dense village. Thus private agricultural lands adjoining
the village were acquired and developed for residential use.

Most materials were procured locally, except for the chequered tiles, pavement blocks,
doors and windows, which were procured from Lucknow to adhere to better quality
standards. After much market survey, bricks were sourced 16km away from the site,
sand and aggregate from Banda just outside Amethi. Master trainers from AVL trained
local masons who carried out the construction work under the project.

During construction

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5.0 TECHNICAL REVIEW

5.1 Architectural, Structural and Construction observations

The hierarchy of spaces within the DUs is well-defined.

The window sill levels have been kept low, which provides the additional benefit of
allowing light and ventilation more in the lower parts of the room, which is more
likely to be used, as the people prefer to sit, work and sleep on the floor.

The flooring is generally using kota stone with a marble slab provided for the
kitchen shelf. Kota stone is easy to maintain and acquires a shinier and more
aesthetic look over prolonged use with regular cleaning and wet mopping.

The construction of the DUs using innovative cost-effective technologies like rat-
trap bond walling and filler slabs incorporating elements of disaster-resilience is
commendable.

For vector protection, the doors and windows have been provided with iron nets,
which reduce the flow of wind inside, but are a necessary precautionary measure.

The plinth was maintained at 450mm above the ground level; however, this has
got reduced with development of internal roads and pathways inside the campus
post construction of buildings.

The RCC chajja projections are inadequate and there is also alack of slab or roof
projections. This is causing many walls to get wet.

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 Some of these chajjas are pre-cast while some are cast in-situ. Pre-cast
chajjasare not advisable for seismic resistance for which a continuous lintel is
advisable in zone III.

There is a 5” free-standing parapet wall which may be falling hazard in

earthquakes.

16mm rods is said to have been used for anchorage but there are no continuous
lintel bands.

Ventilators are absent, which could have been included in the design of the rooms
to ensure that hot air is expelled during the summer months.

Rain-water harvesting provisions have not been included.

There is no water supply inside these dwelling units due to the lack of access to
electricity. The pump for drawing ground water cannot be used by the
beneficiaries because there is no electricity connection to the site. Due to this, the
toilets and baths are not being used. This problem is critical and needs to be
addressedimmediately.

During rainy days, the stairs are getting wet, since there are large openings at the
landings, and also because the slabs above are not projected. The wall at the
half-landing side of the stair especially at its last flight portion could have been
continued upwards. This would have prevented the rain water from flowing inside
down along the steps, making it dangerous to access during the rains, especially
for the children and the elderly.

Shrinkage cracks are noticed at the junction of the walls and slabs. Bearing
plaster could have been used to prevent these shrinkage cracks.

5.2 Socio-cultural aspects:

The inhabitants are basically rural, and in spite of rapid urbanization around them, the
village remains more rural than urban. The beneficiary community expressed their desire
to have cattle sheds along with the houses as most of them own cattle. Cultural
representations like tulsi-manch etc. have not been considered; though these are very
important to the rural and culturally bound population.The assessment team was of the
opinion that the connections between the inside and the outside spaces could have been
better established since the beneficiary community here is more rural than urban. There
could have been hierarchy of open spaces from single family usage to a cluster etc.
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Thebeneficiarieswould have benefited from more connections between the interior
spaces and the adjacent exterior spaces through a system of transitional spaces ranging
from fully covered building interiors to semi covered to fully open external spaces.
However, the project has been constrained in this by the limited land available. It is
expected that the flat roofs will likely be put to good use in the summer months as an
extension of the indoor sleeping areas, as is common in the traditional rural set up where
people tend to sleep outdoors during the summer.

On the ground floor, a door opening could have provided access to the rear of these
buildings, where kitchen gardens could have been developed in congruence with
traditional rural lifestyles and space usage patterns.

Another design error is that the DUs on the ground floor have been provided with two
doors for entry. The door along the stair side is an acceptable solution, but probably the
door through the front verandah was not required, instead the verandah could have been
provided with a parapet wall for better utilization of space.

5.3 Construction Technologies and Management

The innovative Blending of Cost-effective technologies using locally available building

materials and the much-needed multi-hazard resilient principles and climate change
adaptation techniques.

Cost-Effective Technologies
A Load-bearing structure (no use of roof beams and columns, thereby reduction in
use of concrete – energy intensive steel, cement and stone chips)
Local Cost-effective Technologies like Strip foundations in brick masonry, Rat-
Trap bonded brick walling, RCC Filler (brick as filler) Slabs for Roofing.
Multi-hazard Resilient Features: efforts towards Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
Disaster-resilient principles applicable to geographical locations that is vulnerable to high
winds, High Flood Zones and Eq. Zone III
• Vertical anchorage bars at corners and mid-spans running through the
walls and fastened with adequate bond length to the roof slabs.
• Raised plinth heights
• Plinth bands

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 a) Climate Change Adaptation Techniques
• The rat-trap bonded walling is a type of cavity wall, where the air gap in
between offers insulations against the intense tropical summer heat and
cool winters.
• The filler slab roof is an RCC slab with brick fillers in between. This also
resists heat transfer through the roof.
• Thus cool interiors in summers and warm interiors in winters are ensured.

The project construction was managed well by BMTPC, as the project could be
completed in time adhering to the stipulated overall quality standards, within the set time-
frame and adhering to the budgets in spite of the delays in identifying and acquiring the
land for construction.

5.4 Community ownership and participatory process of construction

Once the land was identified and the designs finalized, the beneficiaries were briefed on
the design of the houses. The design drawings were also explained and shared with
them at the commencement of the project. Therefore, tremendous community ownership
was generated right from the onset. This was reflected in the fact that not even a single
brick went missing from the site during the entire construction period. This is one of the
most appreciable components of the project.

‘A participatory process was adopted during the construction process and the
beneficiaries also took the responsibility of keeping in safe custody all the building
materials and equipment at site,” explained a representative of the contractor, AVL.

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 ,

6.0 RECOMMENDATIONS AND WAY FORWARD

6.1 As applicable to current project

• Drainage along the approach road to the site is at present a problem, for which
the community resolved during the team’s visit to approach the local Nagarpalika
for assistance in repair works.

• Boring was done for water supply and pumps were procured. However, there is no
running water inside the dwelling units. This is because there is no electrical
connectivity in these areas. Thoughts about purchasing and maintaining an
electrical generator by the Housing Society were discussed by the team during the
visit. However the beneficiaries mentioned that they would not be able to afford
the procurement and running costs of the generator.

• The Boundary wall is 5” wall in brick-work with expansion joints in between. A

small portion of it has been broken in the front. The community was urged to
repair the same at their own cost, to demonstrate their sense of ownership.

6.2 As applicable to future projects

BMTPC’s mission is to work towards an integrated approach for promotion and transfer
of potential, cost effective, environment friendly, disaster resilient, building materials and
technologies using locally available materials. The current project is a near perfect
exhibition of the above mentioned aspects. However, for more effective promotion of the
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technologies locally, it would be more effective to build in the promotion of the selected
technologies into the project design itself. A small Technology Demonstration Unit
consisting of one or two rooms can be constructed at the District Collector’s office in
order to motivate beneficiaries of the IAY programme to construct their houses using the
technologies. The local administration can also be encouraged to build Governmental
constructions using such technologies which will instill confidence in the community. One
of the hindrances to this approach is that technologies such as Rate Trap Bonded
brickwork, filler slab etc do not figure in the State Schedule of rates and BMTPC should
spare no effort to work with the concerned State PWDs to include these in the State
schedule of rates.

The benefits to the beneficiaries in Amethi and their overall satisfaction should be
disseminated to other parts of the country to encourage similar initiatives. The issues of
Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and DRR have been extensively deliberated upon in
numerous workshops and seminars in India; ample theoretical studies have been carried
out too. But practical demonstrations have been few in India. This effort undertaken on
the ground, especially in the construction sector towards integrating affordability, climate
change adaptation and disaster-resilient techniques in semi-urban context is a definite
step forward towards meaningful sustainable development.

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Annexure 1. ASSESSMENT TEAM MEMBERS

• Prof. CVR Murty, IIT Madras

• Prof. Keya Mitra, BESUS, Kolkata

• Hari Kumar, GeoHazards Society, New Delhi

• AnindyaSarkar, Development Professionals Forum, Bhubaneswar

with support from

• AlokBhatnagar, BMTPC, New Delhi

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Annexure 2. Comparitive Rate Analysis for Cost effective technolgies
and conventional technologies

Annexure 2. A: COMPARATIVE RATE ANALYSIS FOR RAT-TRAP BONDED BRICKWORK

Comparative Rate Analysis for 1 cu.m. of conventional brickwork vs 1 cu.m. of
Rat-trap bonded brickwork using 1:6 cement sand mortar
Details of cost of 1 cum
Item Unit Rate Conventional Brick Rat-trap bonded
(Rs.) Work brickwork
S. Amount Amount
No. Quantity (Rs.) Quantity (Rs.)
Common Burnt clay Non-modular
Material

1 FPS Bricks including carriage nos. 3.14 494 1551.16 401 1259.14
Cement Mortar 1:6 [Rate as per
2 3.11 of SH mortars] cum 2825.3 0.25 706.325 0.18 508.554
3 Sundries LS 1.49 2.73 4.0677 2.73 4.0677
4 Mason (brick layer) 1st class day 301 0.47 141.47 0.6 180.6
Labour

5 Mason (brick layer) 2nd class day 273 0.47 128.31 0.47 128.31
6 Unskilled labour (Coolie) day 247 1.8 444.6 0.88 217.36
7 Unskilled labour (Bhisti) day 260 0.2 52 0.2 52
Scaffolding LS 1.49 22.36 33.3164 22.36 33.3164
Total: 3061.25 2383.348
Add water charges @1% 30.6125 23.83348
Total: 3091.86 2407.182
Add CPOH @ 15% 463.779 361.0772
Cost of 1 cum 3555.64 2768.259
Say 3556 2768
Cost of conventional Brickwork per Cu. Metre 3556
Cost of Rat trap bonded Brickwork per Cu. Metre 2768
Savings per Cubic Metre of Rat Trap Bond brickwork 787
Approximate Percentage savings 22.14
Annexure 2. B: COMPARATIVE RATE ANALYSIS FOR FILLER SLAB CONCRETING
Comparative Rate Analysis for a conventional slab vs filler slab of 4" thickness
Item Unit Rate Conventional Slab Filler Slab
(Rs.)
Amount Amount
S. No. Quantity (Rs.) Quantity (Rs.)
Details of cost of 1 sqm of slab of 100mm thickness
RCC 1:2:4 DSR 2012 Item no 5.3
1 [excluding cost of centering,
shuttering & reinforcement]
cum 5495 0.1 549.46 0.08 439.56
Steel Reinforcement
2 [Thermomechanically treated
bars] DSR 2012 5.22A-5.22.6
kg 62.25 12 747.00 7.2 448.20
Mangalore tiles 20mm th/ Brick
3 including carriage each 3.14 N/A 0 16 50.24
Mason (brick layer) 1st class for
4 aligning bricks/ tiles
day 301 N/A 0 0.1 30.10
Total: 1296.46 968.10

Add water charges @1% 12.96 9.68

Total: 1309.42 977.79
Add CPOH @ 15% 196.413 146.67
Cost of 1 sqm 1505.83 1124.45
SAY 1506 1124
Cost of conventional per Sq metre (assuming 100mm slab depth) 1506
Cost of Filler Slab per Sq. metre (assuming 100mm slab depth) 1124
Savings per Sq.m 381
Approximate Percentage savings 25.33
Documentation work done by:

GeoHazards Society, New Delhi October, 2012

www.geohaz.in