Native Konbac Bamboo Products Private Limited

Mr. Vishwajit Abhyankar / Mr. Mahesh Kudalkar

Address:
House No. 2009, Bhogate Compound, Opposite Omkar Deluxe Hall, Kudal- Sawantwadi Road,
Udyamnagar, Kudal, District Sindhudurg Kudal - 416520, Maharashtra, India

Profile
India has over 136 species of bamboo and holds the stage as the second largest producer in the world. From
handicraft to industrial application to construction, bamboo has myriad uses. It has the potential to play a
significant

role

in

rural

employment

and

climate

change

mitigation.

"Konbac", came into being in 2004 to play a significant role in this market. We have three divisions: Bamboo
crafts,

Bamboo

furniture

and

Bamboo

construction.

"Native Konbac Bamboo Products Private Limited", as the name suggests is concentrated on bamboo
resource development, plantation management and manufacturing of bamboo product.We are a national award
winning for Profit social enterprise which is technically backstopped by INBAR - International Network for
Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR)an intergovernmental network of 36 countries). We have also worked in
tandem with world?s leading technical and design institutes such as National Institute of Design, Ahmadabad,
Delft University, Netherlands, IIT Mumbai, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India etc. Our
specialization lies in organizing local communities and target groups and training them in bamboo processing
and production; conducting market research to understand the demands and design and develop bamboo
products through appropriate production methodology. The products are manufactured by trained artisans as
per international quality standards.

Product/ Service Range

Our 3 divisions are backed by excellent technologies and know-how which means that the products
we make structures, handicraft and furniture are better than timber in strength, compression and
flexibility. The tensile strength of bamboo is significantly higher than steel. Our expertise builds
gazebos, cottage exteriors, small cabins and resorts. Handicrafts include items such as trays,
clocks, lamps and pen stands. In furniture we have a vast range to suit every taste and need. The
range includes beds, tables, chairs and wall finishes. As all items are distinctive, customization

capabilities are a big part of our strength. You tell us your requirement and we will come up with the
perfect design for you. Our products are durable and our design capabilities exemplary.

Our Team
We have a well qualified and highly experienced Board of Directors that oversees all activity and
decides on strategy. At the Executive level is a team with an intimate understanding of the entire
process of acquiring quality raw material, processing and distribution. They comprise the engine that
powers the organisation. The team of artisans is composed of brilliant designers and hard working,
quality conscious workmen who work as one to bring out accomplished work products that we are all
proud of.
View PDF

Spcial Impact
Working in Bamboo was considered as a less dignified work in local communities. This myth is very
efficiently shattered by KONBAC's efforts of conducting training programs, employment generation
and final market linkages for finished bamboo products. KONBAC is training local people for
manufacturing bamboo crafts, furniture, and structures. These workers are either paid on daily wage
basis or hired by the company. In terms of education and industrial developments Kudal is one of the
backward districts of Maharastra. This district is full of natural resources (suitable for fruits like
mango, Cashew etc.) but life style of Kudal population is still similar to tribals. Land distribution is
also skewed; as a result big chunk of population don't have their own land and have to survive on
Agriculture labor which is not available throughout the year. Konbac's target is to provide at least 250
work days in year to each household.
Bamboo is no more a poor man's crop as bamboo products are no more perceived to be inferior to
wood or plastic or any other material available in market. Rather it is now placed in premium luxury
products category. These products are not bought by retail customers for household use but by
hotels, resorts and interior designers. KONBAC provides linkage to this market and farmers get
assured market and good prices for bamboo which they have to sell at throwaway prices without a
proper channel

Why Us?
Apart from the significant environmental advantages of using bamboo, there are several reasons
why we at Native Konbac are the people that many discerning clients choose to work with.

Quality products and work

Excellent finishing

Good design

Cost and time consciousness.

Infrastructure
We have superb facilities for the primary processing of bamboo. This processing is mechanized and
includes the use of machinery like lathes for Cross cutting, external knot removing, Splitting, Internal
knot removing and Bamboo turning lathe, 4 sided planer, and other power tools, jigs & fixtures. We
have a Pressure impregnation treatment plant for treating bamboo up to a length of 6 meters and a
Bamboo furniture manufacturing unit and a Bamboo structural component prefabrication unit.
Moisture control is essential to a bamboo manufacturing unit as bamboo dries our rather faster than
wood, so optimal conditions are maintained. Grading and sorting and drying are carefully done to get
the perfect texture and colour for each product. Environmentally friendly adhesives are used in the
preparation of products and all products as well as the raw material are carefully stored in humidity
controlled warehouses before and after the manufacturing process.
We have superb facilities for the primary processing of bamboo. This processing is mechanized and
includes the use of machinery like lathes for Cross cutting, external knot removing, Splitting, Internal
knot removing and Bamboo turning lathe, Grading and sorting and drying are carefully done to get the
perfect texture and colour for each product. Environmentally friendly adhesives are used in the
preparation of products,

Our Quality Assurance

With our aim being to enhance the reputation and desirability of using cane as a primary material for
construction and furnishing, we are extremely quality conscious. We take care to see that our quality inspectors
check every bit of bamboo that comes to the facility for age, cracking, pests and general health before it is put
into the manufacturing process.

We recognize that moisture content is at the root of problems of warping and cupping that could later appear
and so we take care to see that our products do not succumb to any such problem. Humidity levels are kept
under strict control. The quality of the finishing is important to eliminate tearing. Our products have a sealer
coat to resist abrasion and are covered with high-quality, scratch-resistant polyurethane.

Clientele/ Client Satisfaction

KONBAC has designed and developed up market bamboo furniture which has been acquired by discerning
Architects for their projects, by leading individuals and by business houses. Many of our clients come back to
us repeatedly for further and different items and work as we have been able to forge a reputation for reliability
and

quality.

KONBAC has proved its capability to setup and produce high quality bamboo furniture:

The Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), one of the leading companies in infrastructure
development in India has set up a fully owned subsidiary Lavasa Bamboo crafts Limited for
manufacturing bamboo furniture, with an initial investment of 2.4 crores at Lavasa City near Pune. We
have been assigned the privilege of setting up and operating this unit to cater to a huge requirement of
furniture within Lavasa City which would house 40,000 homes, Hotels, Business institutions, Colleges,
Convention centres, Clubs, etc.

The construction division has its own success stories:

We have set up light bamboo structures for public spaces like highway stalls for DRDA (District Rural
Development Agency) on the Mumbai Goa national highway, Bamboo passenger shelter of 300 sq.ft. area
for the Konkan railway at Ratnagiri railway station and a Roof top restaurant of 600 sq. ft. for a private
businessman

We have been awarded the contract to build a Chinese restaurant in bamboo for the Lemon Tree chain
of hotels - one of the leading 3 star hotels in Goa. The contract was executed on time and exceeded
expectation leading to a new assignment for building one more specialty restaurant for Sun Village, another
3 star hotel in Goa

The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has awarded a turnkey project to
construct a Bamboo Boathouse for tourism measuring 3000 sq. ft. including a ground and first floor with 2
rooms each. These rooms are fully air-conditioned and have well appointed restrooms too. The structure
was designed to withstand very high wind pressure up to 200 kms/hr and is erected on sand. The structure
has endured 3 monsoons and has created an enormous amount of confidence in KONBACs capabilities
among other players in tourism

Lavasa Corporation Ltd. the first private hill station of international standards with an area of 25000
acres coming up near Pune in Maharashtra has developed a Nature Trail project. KONBAC had been
assigned to design, develop and implement various elements in bamboo in this very tough terrain. This
includes, sit outs, canopies, gazebos, railings, viewing decks, a two storey Machhan and several 3 metre
and 7 metre pedestrian bridges

INBAR

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
Aside from climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection, bamboo provides a range
of other environmental services:

Timber substitution
o

Bamboo is a renewable source of soft wood that can substitute for timber
wood for many uses. Much of the logged wood goes for building/construction and
paper and pulp industries and bamboo could substitute for a large proportion of this.

Watershed protection, soil erosion, sustainable land management

o

Bamboos maintain a permanent canopy over the soil and are excellent at
reducing soil erosion, whilst providing a source of softwood for income generating
activities a three year-old plantation reduced soil erosion by 75% at an INBAR
project site in China, this before canopy closure. They are also often used to stabilize
riverbanks.

Eco-tourism
o

People connect with bamboo houses at a very basic level , and bamboo
resorts are becoming popular in many countries including Australia, India and
China. Bamboo forests are a unique environment rarely encountered by most people,
and many bamboo eco-tourism locations include well-tended bamboo species
collections.

PRODUCT INNOVATION
Developing new types of products is an effective way of expanding the markets for bamboo
and rattan, and for ensuring that more benefits from their production accrue to the poor
producers. Work has focused not only on products in which bamboo can directly substitute
for timber wood, but on other uses that tap into the different nature bamboo compared to
timber, such as its long fibres.
Until about 30 years ago, both bamboo and rattan were relatively untried as materials.
Products made from them invariably maintained the raw material nature of the materials
round poles as they had done for millennia in the different cultures around the world that
had grown up using them.
Research and development work in China, India and other nations in the 1980s created the
technologies for laminating bamboo wood, and enabling the production of bamboo planks
and boards, products that are now widely available in the worlds markets. Bamboo rayon
was developed in the 1980s, and was commercialised for use in in clothing in the 1990s.
The development of strand-woven bamboo lumber over the past few years has opened up
more new markets that were traditionally the exclusive preserve of timber wood.
Rattan remains primarily used in round pole form for furniture and handicrafts, but new
laminating technologies have been developed, and specially-treated pieces of rattan have
even been used on a trial basis as a bone substitute in sheep.
INBAR fosters the development and innovation of new bamboo products, and new ways of
producing existing products that benefit the producers more.

Bamboo charcoal and charcoal briquettes are a recent innovation with huge potential,
especially in Africa where tree charcoal is the major source of fuel. INBAR is testing
bamboo charcoal with communities in Ghana and Ethiopia.
Other product innovations fostered by INBAR with its partners include:

Bamboo matchsticks

Bamboo flat-pack furniture

Bamboo crisps

Bamboo pencils

Hand-made bamboo woven laminates

Hand-made bamboo school furniture

Modern bamboo stilt houses

VALUE CHAIN DEVELOPMENT

Bamboos and rattans are versatile and easily processed materials that can be used to
make thousands of different products. Making a product from them involves many different
processing steps, from harvesting the raw materials, through primary processing such as
cleaning, splitting or slivering, secondary processes such as shaping, weaving or
laminating, even packaging, transport to market and marketing. Each stage represents a
change in state and value of the material at one end of the chain a single bamboo pole
may be sold for two dollars. The splits of bamboo wood used as the shaped material to
produce a floorboard, once cut out from the pole, may cost 4 dollars to buy. At the other end
of the value chain, the floorboards that are made from that single pole may cost 30 dollars
to buy. Bamboos and rattans are more complicated to produce than an agricultural crop
such as rice, for example which is simply and easily processed, with a limited range of
final products.
Production of bamboo and rattan products requires much more than processing facilities.
Rural enterprises must become empowered with a wide range of skills to make their
businesses grow. For some products, such as woven articles, high levels of value addition

is only applied with considerable processing skill, and so training in processing at all levels
is needed. Producers need to keep in touch with market trends to ensure they produce to
meet market demand, and so up-to-date market information and knowledge of how to tap
into it is essential. Many poor bamboo and rattan producers do not have access to capital to
invest in their businesses, so availability of affordable loans and other investments is
required. Support infrastructures are often helpful such as local expert NGOs that work
closely with and in the communities to build their capacities to develop with bamboo and
rattan, help organise them into producer groups and so increase their competitiveness to
larger producers. INBAR works to provide all these requirements in its development
projects, and thereby strengthen producers abilities to tap into the many new and growing
market opportunities there are with bamboo and rattan in the world, locally, nationally and
internationally.

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NEWS & MEDIA CATEGORY: BAMBOO CONSTRUCTION

JOIN INBAR AT THE 7TH WORLD URBAN FORUM
February 26, 2014

From the 5th-11th April 2014, INBAR will be showcasing the role bamboo can play in
supporting sustainable urban development at the 7 th World Urban Forum (WUF) in Medelln,
Colombia. We would like to invite you to join us at WUF by registering for free online before
the 16th Marchhttps://www.unhadb.org/unhadb/login.php. WUF, a UN-HABITAT convened biannual meeting, will bring together over 10,000 people from 160 countries to discuss
innovative approaches for achieving the Forums main theme, Urban Equity in Development
Cities for Life.
In recent years, INBARs Global Bamboo Construction Programme has successfully shown
how bamboo can be used to address a range of urban development challenges, including
support

for post-disaster

earthquake reconstruction

and

livelihood

rehabilitation,

helping urban communities in Latin America adapt to flooding and storms, and codifying and
standardizing bamboos use. At WUF, we will share the results of our work to date, as well
as our plans for the future. To learn more about INBARs presence at WUF 7, where we will
be collaborating with the University of Cambridge, CRAterre-ENSAG, Habitat for Humanity
and Fundeguadua, please refer to the following information flier.
Location: Plaza Mayor Convention and Exhibition Center, Medelln, Colombia 5 th-11th April
2014
Contact: Oliver Frith obfrith@inbar.int; Alvaro Cabrera acabrera@inbar.int

STANDING UP TO NATURAL DISASTERS

February 24, 2014

How can bamboo help safeguard communities

against natural disasters?
INBAR and partners have been working since 2009 to help provide one answer to that
question in Ecuador and Peru, and the results have been invaluable to families plagued by
heavy rains and flooding.
INBAR helped design innovative, climate-smart houses that provide solutions to shelter,
maintenance costs, and even the spread of diseases through mosquitoes. Four different
designs use caa guada, a type of bamboo native to Ecuador. The different models were
initially piloted in Guayas and Santa Elena provinces, Ecuador and have been transferred
across Coastal areas of Ecuador and Northern Peru to make public buildings, classrooms
and houses.
To date, 20 homes have been sustainably built as a direct result of INBAR-led activities,
with another 150 homes built by civil society and private sector partners using the same
technology. This has helped build the local economy with more than 2,000 people having
been trained in bamboo silviculture and construction.
This platform of activities now provides a real opportunity to address the challenge of
providing safe, affordable housing in peri-urban areas, where the poor often live in informal
precarious slum housing. The scope of this challenge is immense; a recent INBAR study
found that 600,000 homes in northern Peru alone are inadequately designed for
earthquakes, while the housing shortage across both countries is estimated at 2.5 million
units. Therefore, promoting sustainable, disaster-resilient and affordable housing delivers
significant impacts, spanning both socio-economic and public welfare benefits.

Many of the affected communities living in unsafe, temporary bamboo housing are femaleheaded households usually having annual incomes of just $1872-2500. Our bamboo homes
are extremely cost-effective when compared with government concrete homes, making
them affordable to the targeted low-income areas. Furthermore, while one of our new
bamboo homes costs $4000 in Ecuador and $5000 in Peru and lasts up to 30 years, the
average cost of a traditional informal bamboo shelter costs $1500 and needs to be replaced
every five years. On top of original building costs, this saves money in the long run by
preventing the loss of millions of dollars in future infrastructure damage caused by natural
disasters.
In addition to helping families cope with rain and flooding, these resilient structures also
have good anti-seismic properties and help promote a sustainable pro-poor value-chain in
the region. The houses provide a safe alternative to traditional simple bamboo homes that
are often poorly built and highly-susceptible to disasters.
INBAR is now working to scale up these innovative building technologies to contribute to
climate change adaptation and disaster preparedness throughout Andes, as well as help to
address the challenges of rapid urbanization. We will be showcasing this work and our
plans for the future at the 7th World Urban Forum in Medelln, Colombia from the 5th-11th April
2014.

NEW VIDEOS SHOW HOW BAMBOO HELPS PROVIDE CLEAN

WATER
January 27, 2014

Bamboo water tanks being constructed.

Securing water is a daily battle for the residents of Kochere Village.

Water scarcity is a major problem in Kochere Village in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia,
where more than 47 percent of households nationwide lack direct access to water. For nine
months out of each year, this area experiences a dry season with harsh impacts for its
residents.
INBAR is helping bring clean water to this village and others like it in Ethiopia with its
bamboo water tanks project, in partnership with the Adobe and Bamboo Research Institute
(ABARI) and with support from Environment Canada.
Abbebu Gardisa, a member of this community, explains that the nearest well to the
community does not actually belong to them, and it will soon be diverted to other areas,
forcing them to travel long distances for water.
It will be incredibly difficult for us to access water when this happens, she said.
However, accessing water is not the only obstacle.
Even when we get water from other areas, it is often very dirty and full of amoeba and
bacteria, said Gardisa. It is very bad for our health. We are often suffering from so many
types of water-borne diseases and the situation is very serious for us.

Where the Kochere community may lack water resources, it is blessed with an abundance
of highly-renewable bamboo. The water tanks utilize this readily-available resource to help
battle the drought.
The two tanks built in the village used local bamboo resources as the main structural
element for the tank, reducing the cost of water storage by up to half compared with
equivalent concrete tanks.
A training manual for producing these water tanks was released by INBAR and partners last
year, and is available as a free downloadable PDF on our website. INBAR is also pleased
to introduce a series ofvideos to accompany the manual, which are now available to view on
our Youtube Channel. By using these videos, INBAR hopes to demonstrate how others can
replicate this technology in their own projects.
Click here to go to INBARs YouTube channel where all videos are available to view.
Click here to download the PDF training manual.

UK-CHINA BUSINESS SUMMIT BRINGS NEW MOU FOR

INBAR AND PARTNERS
December 4, 2013

Left to right: Prof. Fei Benhua, ICBR Executive Deputy Director General, Dr. Helen Mulligan, CAR Director, and Dr. Li
Zhiyong, INBAR Deputy Director General, signing MoU agreement at the UK-China Business Summit

New Initiative to Classify Engineered Bamboo Structural Products launched at UKChina Business Summit, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Beijing
Several international organizations are coming together to help bamboo become more
widely-used in the construction of modern buildings.
On December 2, 2013, INBAR signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
Cambridge Architectural Research Ltd (CAR), the University of Cambridge, the University of
British Columbia (UBC), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the
International Center for Bamboo and Rattan (ICBR) to work on the classification of
engineered bamboo construction products in English and Chinese.
The MoU provides the platform for the development of the worlds first paper on engineered
bamboo nomenclature. When published, this paper will provide a proposed common
terminology for research institutions and enterprises around the world, thereby helping to
promote increased use of these low-carbon, green building products in modern buildings.

In recent years, there has been a wave of

innovation in the bamboo sector, with an ever-increasing number of structural engineered
bamboo products that have similar properties to glue-laminated wood products, Oriented
Strand Board (OSB), plywood, entering commercial markets. However, in the face of rapid
innovation, classification of these products, as well as the pre-processed bamboo elements
and processes that go into making them, has failed to keep up. There is now a great
amount of duplication in terminology used across industry and the research community, with
some manufacturing processes also having misleading names. Furthermore, engineered

bamboo construction product nomenclature often fails to follow norms set by the timber
industry, which makes it harder for the wider structural timber industry and research
community to classify and work with bamboo alternatives. Therefore, this new collaboration
of leading research institutions from the Canada, the USA, the UK, and China is expected to
have long-lasting benefits for development of the bamboo sector, both in China and
internationally.

A STEP FORWARD FOR STRUCTURAL USES OF BAMBOO

November 13, 2013

On October 17, 2013, the International Organization for

Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee (TC) 165 on timber structures agreed to initiate
development of a new working item for mechanical strength grading of round culm bamboo
and established a new Working Group (WG12) on structural uses of bamboo to develop a
working draft and detailed proposal for the new project. The working group is also asked to
consider and recommend other projects for future development.
The establishment of the working group on structural use of bamboo is provisional on at
least five ISO TC 165 member countries participating in the group by nominating experts. If
formed, this new working group, which will be convened by INBAR, will support international

consensus making in the amendment of existing international bamboo standards, as well as

the formation of new ones.
The first item on the new working groups agenda will be a new project lead by Coventry
University on mechanical strength grading of round culm bamboo. At present, unlike for
timber, no non-destructive method exists for grading the strength of bamboo, meaning
designers cannot be confident to high degrees of statistical certainty about the strength of
each piece of bamboo used in a structure.

David Trujillo, a senior lecturer at Coventry

University and the project leader for this work item explains what this means for the bamboo
sector. At present, we can only infer the strength of bamboo culms used in construction
from destructive batch tests that are conducted on a small sample of bamboo, while visual
grading for bamboo is not scientifically-based. Therefore, the current status quo for round
pole bamboo construction means the material is either used very conservatively in buildings
or, alternatively, it is not used conservatively enough.
Eventual development of an international standard has the potential to drastically improve
the safety of bamboo construction and facilitate its wider mainstream use in modern
buildings. As bamboos strength is closely related to age of the culm (pole), such a new
standard would also reward sustainable resource management and harvesting, with
producers being able to prove that their mature bamboo produce is superior to immature,
early-cut bamboo, which look similar in appearance to the naked eye.
These latest developments at the international level represent the culmination of over 15
years of work on standards by INBAR, which successfully drafted three ISO-published
standards on bamboo structural design (ISO 22156) and determination of physical and
mechanical properties (ISO 22157-1 & 22157-2) in 2004. For the past ten years, these
standards have played a pivotal role in shaping and guiding bamboo researchers and

standard and code developers across the world. Countries such as Colombia, Ecuador,
Peru and India have used these standards as a reference in the formation of their own
national building codes and guidelines. The new WG12 will also be reviewing these
standards to determine what updates may be required.
While existing international standards for bamboo are hugely important, they are far from
complete and require continuous efforts to meet new innovations and the growing
requirements of modern industries. Therefore, the continuation of work on international
standardization has the potential to play a transformative and powerful role in
mainstreaming and formalizing the bamboo sector, bringing benefits to millions of producers
and users of bamboo products across the world.

GROWING INTEREST IN BAMBOO FOR MODERN

CONSTRUCTION
November 7, 2013
Leading International Research Institutions Commence Studies on Structural and
Architectural Uses of Bamboo

Researchers gathered in Cambridge to study architectural uses of bamboo.

On October 3, 2013, an INBAR-organized meeting in Cambridge, United Kingdom, showed

that some of the worlds leading research institutions such as MIT, the University of British
Columbia, the University of Cambridge, and University College London (UCL) are now
joining international efforts to enhance bamboos use as a structural material in modern
buildings.
Across the world, people have been using bamboo in construction for millennia. As a
renewable material, with incredibly fast growth rates and properties similar to wood,
bamboo has the potential to play an important role in meeting construction needs for a
rapidly urbanizing world in an environmentally sustainable way. Today, current building
practices are a leading cause of climate change. However, despite its inherent advantages,
bamboo has yet to achieve its full potential as a green construction material for the
21st century. This is due to a combination of factors, with construction professionals and
developers often unsure of bamboos natural properties and lacking the capacity to design
and build with the material. However, as the research presented in Cambridge suggests,
this could soon change.
In total, 21 participants from 11 institutions representing the United Kingdom, Canada, the
United States, Colombia and INBAR attended the workshop entitled Research Group
Meeting: Bamboo Construction for Inclusive and Green Development. The research
presented covered a range of topics on bamboo as a structural material and highlighted that
there is growing international interest in enhancing use of the material.

Bamboo housing in Ecuador.

For example, a team from the University of Cambridge, MIT and the University of British
Columbia presented G8-funded research on engineered bamboo. In recent years,
engineered bamboo products, similar to plywood, oriented strand board and glue laminated
wood products, have been developed and used in several demonstration projects in
countries such as China and India. Following successful completion of this G8-funded
three-year project, the research team hopes to take engineered bamboo products to the
next stage, making it into a truly mainstream construction material. Prof. Greg Smith,
Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia and Principal Investigator for the
G8 project, explains, Widespread use of engineered bamboo products is currently
hampered by limited knowledge of their manufacture, structural and thermal behavior, and
lack of appropriate building codes. The goal of this project is to develop modern structural
building materials from renewable bamboo in order to place growth in rapidly developing
countries onto a more sustainable path.
On

similar

theme,

researchers

at

the

University

of

Bath

are

developing

engineered Guadua angustifolia Kunth bamboo panels through a process of thermo-hydromechanical modification. These panels have the potential to standardize construction
with Guadua, which is commonly used in its round culm form in Latin American countries.
Hector F. Archila, a third year PhD student at Bath told the workshop, From my own
experience on construction with Guadua in Colombia, I found that current building practices
require great skill, are labour-intensive, and present numerous challenges associated with
the natural variability and durability of the material. The idea of these novel panel products
is to develop a product that is easy to manufacture and use, while also being highly durable
and suitable for use in modern buildings.
Dr. Juan Francisco Correal Daza, Chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering at the University of Los Andes in Colombia, also presented research at the
meeting that suggests bamboo panel products may be superior to equivalent wood products
in terms of their physical and mechanical properties, as well as their seismic performance.
He stated that, our research at Uniandes has proved that shear walls sheathed with glued
laminated Guadua bamboo could be a suitable replacement for wood or wood-based panels
in wood-frame systems. This could play an important role in addressing our national
housing crisis shortage of 4.8 million housing units.

In addition to work on engineered bamboo, the

workshop heard from researchers at Coventry University, the Timber Research and
Development Association (TRADA), University College London, and the National University
of Colombia, who all aim to enhance use of round culm bamboo for construction.
Traditional, round culm bamboo construction plays a crucial role in supplying homes to
millions of people across the world, while recent advances in countries, such as Colombia,
has seen new modern structures developed by architects such as Simn Vlez. However,
round culm architecture is often perceived as a poor mans timber in many developing
countries, with the highly skilled nature of construction proving a barrier to wide-scale
uptake and safer designs. Prof. Jose Fernando Munoz Robledo, an Architect and Associate
Professor

at

the

National

University

of

Colombia,

who

has

documented

traditional Baharequebamboo architecture of the coffee region of Colombia, told the

workshop that, Today Bahareque architecture is not doing well in Colombia. The people
aspire to live in houses made of mainstream construction materials like steel and concrete,
despite their high cost and often poor suitability for our highly seismically active region. We
need to re-educate the people as well as develop new designs and technologies for
bamboo that not only borrow from our past traditions, but meet the needs of the 21 stcentury.
In response to this call of the 21 st century, researchers at University College London are now
trying to enhance round pole culm design through a new international collaboration project
on bamboo that links partners from Mexico, the UK and China. As Rodolfo Lorenzo, the
principle investigator for UCL, told researchers, The idea of our project is to come up with a
new way of design, which maximizes the advantages of bamboo as a construction
material.
To promote wider use of round culm bamboo in construction, INBAR and Coventry
University have also now commenced another international research project with partners in
Colombia and Ecuador. The project aims to develop new, quick and relatively cost-effective
ways of determining the strength grade of round culms using non-destructive mechanical
tests. As David Trujillo, the principle investigator and senior lecturer at Coventry University

explains, At present, we can only infer the strength of bamboo culms used in construction
from destructive batch tests that are conducted on a small sample of bamboo, while visual
grading for bamboo is not scientifically-based. Therefore, the current status quo for round
pole bamboo construction means the material is either used very conservatively in buildings
or, alternatively, it is not used conservatively enough. Therefore, mechanical strength
grading of bamboo culms can potentially improve connection design and make buildings
safer.
This workshop highlighted that a sea-change is now taking place in perceptions towards
bamboo as a construction material, with traditional research institutes in the global north
now playing an active role in bamboo research. These new North-South partnerships linking
traditional leading research centers with local knowledge and skills have the power to lead
to innovative breakthroughs in the bamboo construction sector. As Prof. Jose Fernando
Munoz Robledo aptly stated, Looking at the caliber of institutions, such as Cambridge, now
working on bamboo construction I am sure we will do great things in the future. INBAR now
plans to organize further meetings of researchers and expand the network in coming years,
with the aim of ensuring that research is coordinated and well targeted to the needs of the
sector.

NEW POTENTIAL WITH BAMBOO WATER STORAGE TANKS

May 17, 2013
INBAR Brings New Technology for Bamboo Water Storage Tank Construction to the
East African Community

A new alternative for water storage, which uses

local bamboo resources, now has the potential to spare women and children in Ethiopia and
Nepal hours of collecting and transporting just enough water to live on each day.
In March 2013, the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) successfully
completed a project, funded by Environment Canada, to develop new technologies for poor,
rural communities in Ethiopia and Nepal. The new technologies will help transport, filter and
store water in these areas using locally available resources. Through the project, INBAR
built 5,000L capacity demonstration water storage tanks, which use bamboo as the main
structural material.(more)

VALUE CHAIN PROJECT ON BAMBOO CONSTRUCTION

COMMENCES IN BHUTAN
July 17, 2012

Recently Bhutan has experienced an unprecedented construction boom, exerting

enormous

pressure

on

the

local

forestry resources and contributing to a local timber shortage of 1.84 million cubic feet. As
the price of timber rises and the supply continues to diminish, many are now turning to nonsustainable housing materials such as concrete, and abandoning the rich architectural form
of traditional Bhutanese wood-framed houses. To serve these multiple demands, INBAR is
working with Bhutan to promote the use of bamboo as a sustainable alternative to
timber. Although Bhutan is home to a number of bamboo species that produce strong,
lightweight, flexible poles excellent for use in earthquake-resistant building structures,
bamboo has traditionally been overlooked as a material for local construction.
(more)

BAMBOO PIONEERED IN BHUTANESE CONSTRUCTION

January 1, 2012

In

December

2011,

the

Bhutanese

government

inaugurated

the

first bamboo-

framed, traditional-style house in the country. Designed and constructed by INBAR, the
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and carpenters from all over Bhutan, the 100m 2 building
in Tingtibi, Zhemgang District, is now the permanent residence of the Tingtibi Community
Chief.
(more)

INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR BAMBOO AND

RATTAN

PO Box 100102-86, Beijing 100102, P.R. China

Tel: +86 (0)10 6470-6161

Fax: +86 (0)10 6470-2166

Email: info@inbar.int

2014 International Network for Bamboo and Rattan

US
OF WORK

CATIONS

CT US

TISEMENT & TENDERS

Home > Bamboo Mat Corrugated Roofing Sheets

Raw Material

Bamboo mat, Phenol

formaldehyde resin,
Polyurethane coating

Status

A Pilot Production Unit for

manufacture of sheets has been
set up in Meghalaya with
production capacity of 3000
sheets per month.

Joint Developer

Indian Plywood Industries

Research & Training Institute,
Bangalore

Indian Standards (IS:15476:2004) formulated with

BIS for Affordable Housing for All since 1990

Creating Enabling Environment

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US
OF WORK

CATIONS

CT US

TISEMENT & TENDERS

All rights reserved

Home > Bamboo Mat Ridge Cap

Raw Material

Bamboo mat, Phenol formaldehyde resin,

Polyurethane coating

Status

Product Tested

Joint Developer

Indian Plywood Industries Research &

Training Institute, Bangalore

Developed the technology with IPIRTI, Bangalore for replacement of the

present practice of using flat boards to avoid perforations.
Creating Enabling Environment for Affordable Housing for All since 1990

Home l BMTPC mail l Feedback l Site Map

developed by: Hollywood Multimedia Ltd.

All rights reserved

Bambusa arundinacea yellow dot

Dendrocalamus strictus green dot