Hundreds of home buyers have suffered at the hands of delayed possessions when projects all across the country got stuck due to unavoidable construction delays or pending government approvals. Even when everything is in place for a project to start construction and successfully give occupation certificates, unforeseen delays in construction work due to a shortage of skilled labour can delay possession of projects.
A new construction technology by a European construction company, Mivan Company Ltd., called MIVAN is helping eliminate a huge chunk of time that went into the construction of large scale projects like huge commercial and residential properties. When used in construction, the ecosystem of Mivan technology is being referred to as the MIVAN Formwork System by developers.
Let’s get deeper into how the MIVAN Formwork System works and how it’s going to prove beneficial for the new homebuyer emerging in the Indian real estate scene.
What Is The MIVAN Formwork System?
The MIVAN Formwork System is a construction system using aluminium forms instead of the traditional timber forms. While the MIVAN system does aid a faster construction cycle, by facilitating a single pour construction, it also strengthens the build.
Any Construction done using MIVAN formwork comes out perfect and doesn’t require any additional plastering to smoothen it out.
Features Of MIVAN Formwork
1. One metre square on the MIVAN Formwork has a weight of just 18-20 Kg, making it lightweight. However, the formwork has a load-carrying capacity per square metre of approximately 7-8 tonnes.
2. The striking time of a horizontal panel using MIVAN is at 36 hours post concreting or when the concrete reaches 10N/mm2. The striking time for a vertical wall is significantly lower at 12 hours post concreting or 2N/mm2 strength of concrete.
3. Since the material used to create the formworks is aluminium, the formworks themselves are reusable 250+ times and highly durable.
4. A floor can be cast within seven days when the MIVAN formwork is used. This makes the construction cycle significantly smaller.
Advantages And Disadvantage Of Using MIVAN Formwork
The following are the advantages and disadvantages of the MIVAN Technology.
Advantages:
1. Since the aluminium formwork is really high-quality and doesn’t get easily damaged, the construction’s dimensions are consistent.
2. Post-removal of the formwork, the concrete construction has a smooth finish and does not need to be rectified.
3. The formwork is customizable as per the project requirement.
4. It does not utilise skilled labour to be assembled.
5. Much quicker construction.
Disadvantages:
1. Modifications are hard and expensive as each piece of the formwork is cast with a mould.
2. Seepage and leakage issues are prevalent in the monsoons.
3. The box-type construction makes the building prone to shrinkage cracks.
4. If the forms aren't used repeatedly at a large volume, i.e for big projects like townships or huge residential and commercial complexes, the forms won’t be cost-effective.
5. Setting the joints for construction needs to be done skillfully.
6. Alignment maintenance is necessary and needs to be done by skilled labour.
MIVAN Formwork Vs Traditional Formwork
Criteria | MIVAN Formwork | Traditional Formwork |
Material | The MIVAN Formwork is built using Aluminium alloy and thus is much easier to assemble and dismantle. | Traditional Formworks are built using timber and often get damaged in the dismantling process. Even the assembly for traditional formwork requires more skill. |
Usage | The MIVAN Formwork is supposed to last for multiple uses that can go up to 250+ uses. | Since traditional Formwork is built with timber which is much more fragile as compared to aluminium, it is prone to damage in the dismantling process and does not last for multiple uses. |
Construction Timeline | Since the MIVAN formwork can be used multiple times before it needs to be replaced, construction is smoother and quicker with almost zero idle time. | Traditional Formwork needs to be replaced and thus construction needs to be halted every time a new formwork needs to be created, increasing the idle time substantially. |
Seismic Resistance | High Seismic Resistance | Low Seismic Resistance |
Post Usage Work | Structures created using the MIVAN Formwork do not need a lot of retouching post-construction. | A lot of priming and plastering is required to get the structure’s surface even when a traditional formwork is used for construction. |
Environmental Impact | The MIVAN Formwork Systems are reusable and recyclable. This makes these systems highly environmentally friendly and reduces the negative impact of construction on the ecosystem. | Traditional formworks aren't nearly as reusable and are disposed of by being burnt. Thus, their negative environmental impact is high in comparison. |
MIVAN Formwork System And Indian Real Estate
MIVAN Formwork System is popular across Gulf, European, and a few Asian countries. However, it is still not used widely in India. The most recent and ambitious use of the MIVAN Formwork System in India in recent years has been for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
The PMAY scheme, also known as Housing For All is a government scheme to provide lower-income groups in India with the opportunity to own affordable housing. This scheme requires the mass building of residential units with great speed while still ensuring the quality and strength of the build.
Since MIVAN technology of construction allows both these things to co-exist, unlike traditional construction, the construction under the PMAY scheme is heavily reliant on it.
In the future, as the MIVAN technology becomes more widespread, the cost of construction using it might also come down. That would remove one of the biggest disadvantages of using the MIVAN Formwork System. This would encourage more developers in India to adopt this technology.
As a potential future home buyer, would you be willing to pay a little extra to have your booked apartment built faster, stronger, and within the right time? Tell us in the comments.
Also Read: How to identify, report and manage illegal construction?