The Property Times: Construction materials costs have gone up since pandemic. What according to you are the reasons?
Dr Prashanth Reddy: The primary reason is the pent-up demand post 2nd wave of Covid. Contrarily, the industry capacity had reduced on supplies during lockdown, shortage of manpower, rising fuel costs and also working capital issues. On Imports the shipping freight has more than doubled as well.There has also been a big demand in the western world due to government boost on infra projects to revive their economy.
The Property Times: What is the biggest change you have seen in construction industry post second wave?
Dr Prashanth Reddy: There is a severe shortage of raw materials and skilled manpower. Added to that are the delays in import shipments due to container shortages. On the other side due to hybrid way of living and working, there is a growing demand to not only have own houses but also spacious enough for WFH. What used to be big attractions like swimming pools etc, have now changed to bigger balconies and better e-connectivity. There has been big boost to e-commerce sector while the Brick and Mortar outlets have suffered.
The Property Times: What features or products are buyers looking for in facades or cladding while constructing homes?
Dr Prashanth Reddy: For residential buildings, buyers mostly look at features like aesthetics, less maintenance and importantly sustainability. There is also a factor of uniqueness that comes into play for differentiation. In many cases, the use of our products extend beyond exterior wall cladding to gates, louvers based on sun path and other applications like pergolas and exterior furniture for landscape and roof gardens too.
In case of larger projects, buyers today seek certified products and prefer green-rated buildings with innovative designs. They are willing to explore and experiment to learn about newer cladding systems. Sun path analysis, wind loading patterns, dynamic sun shading, and thermally efficient materials are some of the factors that are computed to achieve the best functional output from a façade.
The Property Times:Who are the buyers of facades?
Dr Prashanth Reddy: They can be individual home owners, builders, corporates, hospitals, retail chains, public sector companies, government organizations, hospitality chains, schools/colleges/institutes – practically anyone or any entity who is constructing a building.
The Property Times: What are sustainable facades? What are the advantages? Do they result in cost savings for customers?
Dr Prashanth Reddy: Undoubtedly sustainability has become the buzzword in modern day facades. To influence this trend, Fundermax provides rain screen façade system that improves building protection by enhancing functionality of façade with respect to heat and noise reduction, and better weather protection. It acts as an external skin or envelope to the building protecting from heat, rain and other extremes. We can increase thermal efficiency of the building with an effective design. A well-designed sustainable façade reduces the thermal bridges, condensation of watervapour, and protects the building. Tropical climate can sometimes be uncomfortable and therefore it is important to use the right façade system for optimizing temperature levels inside a building. The primary objective is to keep the heat at bay.
The revolutionary rear ventilated façade system from Fundermax maintains a gap between the building envelope and cladding, and between cladding elements. This ensures there is sufficient flow of air behind the cladding. In other words, when the building gets heated, the hot air between the cladding and building envelope rises to the top and escapes, and cold air from the bottom flows in to occupy its space. This way there is continuous air movement and the building is able to sustain a comfortable temperature.
The panels are easy to maintain and hence doesn’t incur any periodic maintenance cost. This also has a positive impact on the overall air conditioning load of the building.
The Property Times: Tell us about Fundermax India’s upcoming offerings?
Dr Prashanth Reddy: One of the new solutions from Fundermax, the Max Lato series aims at providing better visual comfort to occupants. These shading systems come in different sizes and configurations and can be used to mitigate the effects of glare and heat ingress in different kind of buildings located across the country. Max Lato is an effective way to reduce air conditioning loads. Yet it offers designers an opportunity to create a distinctive architectural impact. This new-age shading system has slats made of Max Exterior panels of Fundermax that can be fixed at any position according to the building location.
Another new system in the offering is the rivetless soffit system from Fundermax, FS01. The objective is to achieve a seamless and unhindered view with smaller strips (width of panels), and closed grooves. The application engineering team at Fundermax, after intensive design analysis and trials, has developed the same. This seamless soffit cladding system is sure to give your buildings character while enhancing the aesthetics.
We are also planning to introduce interior laminates for kitchen industry, restroom cubicles, and Max Resistance panels for healthcare. Laboratories and cleanroom applications.
