Unbaked bricks produced at Hong Ha Joint Stock Company in Bac Kan province. The demand for eco-friendly building materials was anticipated to rise significantly. (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - The increasing amountof smart urban areas and green buildings has triggered demand forenvironmentally-friendly building materials in Vietnam, experts said.
Many property developers have started usingenvironmentally-friendly materials for their projects, requiring manufacturersto shift focus to green construction materials.
According to Le Trung Thanh, Director of theVietnam Institute for Building Materials, construction works were increasinglypaying attention to durability, energy saving, cost and climate adaptation.
Thanh said the building material industry shouldfocus on developing new materials friendly to the environment. Environmentally-friendly materials must meet tworequirements: consuming less energy for producing it and saving energy when putinto use.
The production and use of green constructionmaterials is an inevitable development trend, not only in Vietnam, Thanh said.
The Ministry of Construction estimated that thecountry’s demand for building materials would grow at about 10-12 percent peryear. Demand for green construction materials grew significantly in the pastfive years and is set to soar in the near future as dozens of provinces andcities try to become smart cities.
Currently, Vietnam can produce some greenconstruction materials such as insulation foam, eco-friendly roofing sheets,light-weight concrete bricks, glazed tiles, green walled wood, recycled bricksand green cement.
The country has also encouraged the use of unbakedbricks as well as energy-saving equipment and materials in construction worksover the past decade.
According to Pham Van Bac, director of theministry’s Department of Building Materials, besides developing newconstruction materials, producers of traditional products such as cement,tiles, steel and glass also needed to renovate production technologies toincrease durability, energy saving, climate adaptation and cut production costs.
Nguyen Thanh Hai, chairman of Hi-Pec whichspecialises in paint products, said that green construction was a trend butmany were still hesitant due to the high costs for eco-friendly materials.
Experts said it was necessary to have standardsfor environmentally-friendly building materials and policies to encourage theuse of new materials.-VNA
VNA
