Bayer, Habitat team up for low cost housing

MANILA, Philippines - Germany-based Bayer MaterialScience, one of the world’s largest polymer companies,  and non-profit home builder Habitat for Humanity Philippines have teamed up for a low cost housing project using high quality yet affordable building materials.

Together with housing technology partner Wyndham Homes of Malaysia, a prototype house in Habitat’s Marangal Village in Malabon City was unveiled recently, using fiber composite panels that incorporated Bayer MaterialScience’s polyisocyanurate (PIR) foam.

PIR is a rigid 60mm foam inserted between two panels of fiber board to create a wall and roofing material that can deflect nearly 50 percent of the heat that can be brought on by the intense Philippine tropical sun.

“Our low cost housing solution is based on light weight polyurethane composite panels. These can be assembled quickly and easily, within five days with a minimum of workers and technical support. The excellent insulation properties of the material make the houses more energy efficient and thus very cost effective,” said Richard Northcote, communications, public affairs and sustainability head and a member of the executive committee of Bayer MaterialScience.

“While we have employed volunteers to help reduce house cost, a very critical aspect of this effort is to find high quality building materials at affordable cost.  We have recently incorporated the expertise and know-how of Bayer Philippines Inc. and Wyndham Homes Sdn Bhd with ours to lower costs even more,” added Charlie Ayco, CEO and managing director of Habitat for Humanity Philippines.

For his part, Dato JeyaKumar, managing director of Wyndham Homes,said: “We are excited to share this housing technology in the Philippines to enable better access to quality and affordable housing especially for low-income families.”

The demo house also marks the start of Bayer MaterialScience and Habitat for Humanity’s long-term partnership that will seek to develop programs to help poor families access sustainable housing solutions.

The inauguration was held at the close of the fourth Asia-Pacific Housing Forum organized by Habitat for Humanity International Makati City.