Mohali firm aims for the sky, to raise 10 storeys in 48 hours

A time-lapse YouTube video of a 15-storey hotel building being constructed in 48 hours was watched by more than 5.7 million people worldwide earlier this year. Mohali can now see this in real time.

In a few days from now, the city will become India's first to witness the construction of a 10-storey "insta-building" or "pre-fab skyscraper" in 48 hours.

All the pre-fabricated elements of the building are ready, lying at a six-acre factory site in Mohali. The metal frame structure with the outer walls will be put together by a team of 200 men and three cranes — with cameras capturing every minute of the process.

"We have requested Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to launch the construction," said Harpal Singh, the head of Synergy, which is behind the project.

A Rs 1,000-crore group based in Mohali, Synergy has tied up with UK-based Thrislington Products Company Ltd for the venture and the model has been approved by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Structural Engineering Research Centre (CSIR-SERC), Chennai.

The building has been cleared for the Zone V siesmic area, the highest.

CSIR-SERC Director Dr Nagesh R Iyer led the team that worked on the project for four months to ensure that the steel frame structure was strong enough. "It was the first ever test in India of this magnitude carried out successfully on a shake table for a steel frame structure," Iyer said.

While the costs of the material used are almost the same as in a conventional building, as Singh pointed out, "You gain in terms of manpower days and (in avoiding) inflationary increases."

Pre-fab buildings

Components are manufactured in a factory, with water supply, sanitation, wiring pipes etc, and then shifted to a prepared building site for installation. Concrete is used only for the foundation and filling for deck floorings. No bricks, reta or bajri is used. The external wall is double-skinned PUF panel that ensures thermal insulation. Once up, an "insta building" uses one-fifth the energy of conventional buildings.

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