The Hydraform Group - 20 years of exporting and innovation of building systems. Hydraform’s core focus is supplying building systems ranging from residential housing to commercial

buildings anywhere in the world.

In 1988, with the objective of developing a cost effective building system for the developing world, Hydraform was born. Today, close

on 100 people are employed in South Africa in the manufacturing of the machines, office administration, construction, building

materials supply and property development.

The Hydraform building system and the machines are used in over 50 countries worldwide. Hydraform manufactures and sells

brick and block machines worldwide. The company produces two ranges of block and brick machines, The VIBRAFORM range and

the HYDRAFORM range.

The Hydraform machines are mobile and are used to make bricks with local soil anywhere in the world. The bricks produced by the

patented Hydraform machines are interlocking and unique to the company.

HYDRAFORM M7MI, Mobile Block Machine

The Vibraform machines can make a range of cement products; from paving bricks, hollow cement blocks to retaining wall blocks.

These products are more conventional in the construction industry.

VIBRAFORM V3SE brick machine

The company also supplies pan mixers either electrically driven or mobile diesel, soil crushers, vibratory sieving machines and a full

range of tools for your block yard set-up.

Worldwide construction projects: Within South Africa Hydraform has its own construction division and a block yard producing over 2

million blocks per year. More than 2500 machines have been sold to over 50 countries worldwide on 6 continents. Tens of thousands

of buildings have been built worldwide using the Hydraform Building System, ranging from low cost dwellings to multi storey luxury

houses, schools, mass housing developments, offices. The building system has been used by NGO’s, Governments, Private investors,

Developers, International agencies, Mining houses and Entrepreneurs.

Nelson Mandela Interpretation Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa

The Hydraform Building System is essentially a LEGO style building block. The Hydraform block is made by a Hydraform machine

and each block is laid on top of each other without the need for mortar between blocks, the blocks are mostly dry-stacked. The

Hydraform interlocking block is made of local soil and as little as 5% cement, cured over a period of seven days. Building with the

Hydraform blocks is easy and simple where unskilled labour can be used in both the construction and block making. The simplicity of

the Hydraform system has led it to being used on projects worldwide where skills shortages and employment creation are key factors.

The Hydraform Building System is of a high quality and complies with the South African National Building Regulations. The

system has been granted an Agrément Certificate (No. 96/237). The subsidiary company of the group is also NHBRC compliant. The

building system has been extensively tested for both use in South Africa s well as world wide.

Earthquake Resistant Structures: Through extensive research and development in conjunction with Wits University, the modified

Hydraform Earthquake Resistant building system has been tested and designed to be used in earthquake regions. During full scale

earthquake testing the building system has been able to withstand over 7 Richter scale earthquake intensities, a world first for dry-

stacked masonry. The earthquake resistant system was developed for earthquake regions in Asia, South and North America. There

are several projects using Hydraform in disaster rehabilitation projects, such as part of a 10,000 house project in Gujarat India.

Benefits for the user of The Hydraform Building System including: Substantial Cost savings in block making and construction.

Freely available subsoil is used as the raw material. Hydraform blocks do not require costly burning. Transport costs are low since

block production takes place on site. Unskilled labour can be trained in block making as well as construction.

Environmental Friendliness - A major feature of the Hydraform blocks is that it is produced under high compression from subsoil,

without the need for the wood, gas or coal to burn bricks. Hydraform Interlocking Dry-Stacked Face Brick work has less than one third

the embodied energy and resultant CO2 content than fired clay face or clay stock brick work. This results in the Hydraform blocks

having a lower embodied energy content than clay fired bricks, resulting in a lower CO2 footprint making the Hydraform blocks more

desirable for Green Projects.

Attractive, face-brick finishes is achieved with Hydraform blocks in a variety of natural colours derived from the soil found at

individual sites. The interior walls may be plastered, painted or sealed.

Training – Hydraform offers training worldwide. Full training in block production and building methods is provided on site with all the

technical assistance when needed and wherever needed.

Hydraform since its inception in 1988 has never stood still. The company is constantly innovating to find new and better ways of

manufacturing blocks and bricks, especially dry-staked blocks. The company welcomes new ideas through the employment of young

engineers with a vision for innovative building systems and brick making machines. International patents have also been secured,

protecting the company’s intellectual property.

International Marketing and Sales: Hydraform though its international exporting arm has a network of thousands of clients worldwide.

The company also has agents and distributors strategically located in Southern Africa, West Africa, East Africa, South America, Central

America, Asia, Parts of Eastern Europe as well as Australia. Through this diverse network the company is currently seeking

opportunities to exploit this network by introducing other well made South African products into its network worldwide. The company

has over 20 years experience in exports with professional well equipped sales, marketing and export teams ready to do business

wherever it takes the company. Hydraform has an in depth understanding and knowledge of doing business in Africa as well as the

developing markets of the world.

Hydraform Building Projects

With over three thousand machines on five Continents, there are many thousands of Homes, Schools and Commercial Buildings

already completed and many under construction. Some machines are still in operation many years after delivery into the field.

Hydraform Management has been involved with many operations and supported various Mass Housing Projects worldwide. Three

such projects with a high success rate in housing delivery and high community participation are;

i) Argentina – The P.F.P. Programme with over 4000 beneficiaries

This program was designed to curb Urbanisation of newly married couples. The Government of Argentina gave land to over three

thousand newly married under-privileged rural families and also wanted to create jobs and generate income for the population in the

rural areas. The new homeowners were employed in the self-help programme and paid a nominal wage to assist in the construction of

their own homes to replace the wages they would have lost while building. The paid wage was equal to an unskilled labour wage in the

rural area concerned and paid for the period of the construction. The State government purchased over one hundred Hydraform

machines and distributed them free to the various rural municipalities around the Province of Buenos Aires.

The municipal Architect was put in charge of the local housing project, to train and assist the home-owners in the construction of their

new home. The municipality gave all the required building materials for the construction of the new home, on a no interest 10 year

loan. After the completion of the house, the family would start paying back the soft loan over 10 years. The family was also assisted by

more skilled paid artisans in the more technical trades such as; plumbing, carpentry and concrete trades. The family was required to do

the more labour intensive unskilled trades including mixing and preparing building materials as well as Hydraform block production and

Hydraform dry-stack block laying.

ii) India – The Orissa Rural Development Housing programme, with over 10,000 Housing Units Constructed.

This program was run in a more less similar way as the Argentinean P.F.P. housing project. The only difference was that with the India

program, the materials were all issued and controlled by a central organisation and site called ‘The Materials Bank’. At The Materials

Bank, the community builders would present their credit tokens for building materials and would in turn receive the necessary materials

to construct their new rural home. The community was paid a nominal wage for unskilled labour and was assisted in the more skilled

trades by skilled tradesmen.

iii) Ethiopia – Hydraform Housing Program

Under this scheme, middle and upper income housing units have been built in the Addis Ababa, with houses from 80 m2up to 200 m2.

This project has over 1000 houses already constructed, along with schools, universities and other industrial buildings throughout the

region. The programme is continuing to provide housing and services as well as skills and business opportunities to its citizens.

iv) Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya

The three East Africa Governments have adopted the technology for their building projects on the basis of environmental concerns.

Apart from these very successful projects Hydraform is also working on projects with our clients on several other successful and

exciting projects worldwide. Below are few examples.

v) Nigeria, Yobe State Housing Project

One of the many projects in Nigeria is the Yobe State Housing Project. Several hundred houses are planned on being constructed with

the Hydraform building system. The project is underway with many houses already on the ground. This is part of the State Housing

Projects that are planned for other states throughout Nigeria towards delivered quality affordable homes to the population.

SUDAN

The HYDRAFORM Technology is being used in Sudan by several NGO’s and Government organisations, to construct houses, schools and clinics. Below is one more example of HYDRAFORM

in action. The Akot Clinic, been built using the HYDRAFORM Building System.

The Project Manager, of the Akot project, Mr. David Njoroge provided all pictures

With the high cost of cement in Sudan, the HYDRAFORM building system has saved the client money in the

construction of the clinic. The HYDRAFORM Building System uses less cement than conventional construction

methods.

ETHIOPIA Hydraform expanding throughout Ethiopia

HYDRAFORM’s Technical Manager, John Roxburgh visited Addis Ababa conducting a tour and

training programme in the region. He was overwhelmed to see how much of Addis Ababa has been built with the Hydraform Building System.

HYDRAFORM’s distributor SELAM Technical and Vocational College has been involved with the newest

University in Addis Ababa. The entire University, roof and walls, has been constructed with the HYDRAFORM

Building System.

Several commercial structures have been built in Ethiopia, using the HYDRAFORM Building System

HYDRAFORM Nigeria and West Africa

HYDRAFORM is extensively used throughout Nigeria and West Africa. With back-up and training staff in West Africa HYDRAFORM’s clients are assured of support when and wherever needed.

Homes, Mosques and hundreds of buildings have been built using the HYDRAFORM building system.

The HYDRAFORM building system has great cost saving advantages as it utilises the local laterite and

only 5% cement in the block production. In the construction process the blocks are dry staked saving more

cement and reducing labour costs.

PHILIPPINES Hydraform Expanding in the Pacific Rim

HYDRAFORM’s distributor Mr. Bartiquin of Hydraform Philippines has been hard at work expanding the Hydraform base through out The Philippines. These photographs are just a few examples of the great work of Hydraform Philippines.

The Hydraform Building system is being used for both 2 and 3-storey construction.

Commercial buildings such as the badminton Court pictured above left and housing projects through out the Philippines are some of his success stories.

MAPANGUBWE - World Heritage Site

Prof. Peter Rich has always pushed the use of CEB technology to its limits. The most recent “Project” was presented to Quintin Booysen and John Roxburgh of Hydraform. Peter wanted a thin tile made

from compressed earth to be used in a full scale dome structure. This structure would house the most rare hand crafted artefacts in Southern Africa at Mapangubwe – A World Heritage site.

After much head scratching a “Hand-Press” capable of making such a tile was developed and tested. More than 200,000 tiles have been manufactured and currently the dome structure is near

completion. The structure is being built by world expert James Bellamy – these pictures were take from his site http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/bellamyjk/BuildingInSouthAfrica

HYDRAFORM WORKING WITH NGO’s AND RELIEF AGENCIES AROUND THE WORLD

HYDRAFORM’s has supplied machines to several of the worlds best know relief agencies from around the world. Below are a few examples of projects and sponsors who have used the

HYDRAFORM building system

Homes and buildings have been built using the HYDRAFORM building

system with HUDCO in Gujarat India and in Orissa India with CARE

International and Development Alternatives

With the low cement content used in making HYDRAFORM blocks clients save money in the construction

costs and able to construct more with smaller budgets.

HYDRAFORM is ideal for use with unskilled communities and local labour. The interlocking blocks are easy to

lay and are made on-site where they are needed

Schools built in Burundi through

UNHCR using the HYDRAFORM

Building System

Over 1200 homes were built in Orissa

India and more than 3500 homes

in Gujarat – All using the

HYDRAFORM Building System

HYDRAFORM

Madagascar

Steven Tucker HYDRAFORM’s Marketing Manager for Francophone Africa, recently travelled to Madagascar for training and client support. Steven had an opportunity to visit some of the

construction sites where HYDRAFORM is being used. Steven found that the HYDRAFORM technology is readily accepted as one of the leading building systems in Madagascar.

Upmarket homes, factories and schools have been built throughout Madagascar using the HYDRAFORM

Building System. The HYDRAFORM face brick complements the classical architecture of Madagascar and

blends well with the beautiful historic homes found throughout the capital city.

The HYDRAFORM Building System has become the cost saving choice for contractors and housing

developers in Madagascar.

For more information on HYDRAFORM developments in Madagascar or for use in your country contact us

today.

Contact Hydraform for additional information

Mr. Quintin Booysen technical@hydraform.com or Call – 011-9131449