Use of Aluminium in Building & Construction industry
Vedanta is one of the largest top-quality aluminium billet producers in India. Through the history of civilizations, humankind has dug, mined, and excavated the earth to find and create tools of prosperity, like minerals and metals. Today, at the anvil of the modern world, rests aluminium, offering innumerable possibilities for humankind to shape a better and ‘greener’ future for itself. It sits on a pedestal above all known metals as a paragon of strength and sustainability, rightfully dubbed as the ‘Metal of The Future’. These virtues have been actuated through mega constructions like the Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, Empire State Building, Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion house and the modernist Aluminaire House in the United States. These icons of human creativity stand testimony to the fact that aluminium is an architect’s dream metal, here to satiate all needs and wants, from casting bolts to cementing building foundations through its superlative properties. India’s largest producer of aluminium and value-added products, Vedanta Aluminium, through its world class assets and products, is ready to take India’s building & construction industry a step into the future. ‘Green metal’ aluminium, deemed as the geological elixir for climate change, has triggered the consciousness of the construction industry. The metal can be formed into countless shapes, making it an immensely popular option for structural applications and building components like doors, windows, sliding, roofing, curtain walls, sun shading, flashings, balustrades and decorations. Aluminium scores high over other metals due to its great strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance and therefore, low maintenance, high reflectivity, high malleability and ductility, and good electrical conductivity. When employed as a base metal in construction, aluminium structures weigh approximately 35-65% lesser than traditional metals, while providing equivalent strength. Topping it off, it has an element of glamourous design finish. In 2019, the world average for aluminium consumption in construction was 24% as the metal found a diverse range of applications like floating ceilings, windows, doors, stairs, wall panels, billets, roof sheets, curtain walls and many more. The growth of fenestrations as a norm in the industry has made aluminium the most preferred material among builders. It occupies ~55% share of the total fenestration market in India, followed by 25-30% share of wood and steel. Aluminium is widely preferred for its availability in a broad range of customizations and price points, with a faster production cycle as compared to uPVC. Higher aluminium usage in a construction can substantially reduce the cost of overall foundation without any compromises on the structural stability and strength. With an installed smelting capacity of ~2.2 million tonnes per annum, Vedanta Aluminium offers a diverse portfolio of high-quality aluminium products for downstream manufacturers/extruders like billets, ingots and rolled products. These are then extruded into structural components which are further fabricated for usage in a diverse range of applications like floating ceilings, windows, doors, stairs, wall panels, roof sheets, curtain walls and many more. Among Vedanta’s products, the magnesium-silicon 6xxx alloys in billets are preferred among extruders as they are conducive to manufacturing the most intricate architectural shapes. With 430kT billet casting capacity per annum, The company’s casting facilities use state-of-the-art Wagstaff Hot Top Air Slip casting technology, one of the best in the world. Customers can either choose from a wide range of alloy specifications that Vedanta already offers or request customizations as per their requirements. In India, usage of aluminium in building & construction is being propelled by rapid urbanization. With greater migration into cities, there is a need for constructing tall buildings which can house more people while contributing to efficient land use. Aluminium frames allow for gravity defying buildings that are at the same time more energy-efficient and environment friendly, with less CO2 emissions. While the world has already tapped into aluminium’s potential for making future-ready constructions, India is soon catching up. The per capita consumption of aluminium in the domestic building & construction industry is at 0.3 kgs whereas the world average stands at 2.8 kgs. In India, the demand for aluminium in this sector is driven primarily by its usage in façade and fenestration. The domestic market is yet to explore aluminium applications in bigger infrastructural projects like skyscrapers, domes, bridges, rooftops, etc. Vedanta Aluminium is leveraging its state-of-the-art production capacity, R&D capabilities and engineering expertise to amplify aluminium’s multifaceted properties, tailoring its products to perfectly fit the needs of the industry. The company is on a mission to mainstream this wonder metal, which has the potential to colossally transform India’s building and construction industry. The rapidly evolving paradigm of B&C industry is making it explore effective solutions to fit into smart 21st century building trends like gravity defying buildings, more glass to harness natural light, automation and control of the façade elements which help with air flow, solar shading, and energy storage and distribution, and so on. Modern aluminium alloys are the perfect material for such systems, useful for both expansive and intricate designs as well as extreme loading. It is also conducive to usage in buildings which require a high degree of absorption of structure-borne and airborne noise. Moreover, with rapid adoption of modular design trends, structural components can easily be prefabricated and assembled on site, which effectively reduces the construction time and increases portability of the structure. With applications ranging from warehouses and exhibition setups to storage units, aluminium is a preferred raw material for creating portable structures. In a climate change conscious world, sustainability has become the cornerstone of evolution in every sector. The building and construction industry is naturally inculcating sustainable options with aluminium serving as the poster metal for this transformation. This shift is being catalyzed by the fact that aluminium can be infinitely recycled at the end of the lifecycle using minimal energy into new forms without any loss of quality. According to the International Aluminium Institute, three quarters of the one billion tonnes of aluminum ever produced is still in productive use. Last but not the least, given the growing emphasis on green buildings, usage of aluminium in this industry is only going to rise in the times to come. Aluminium-intensive buildings are already front runners in the global race for green buildings, with numerous sustainable building awards like LEED Platinum and Gold to their name. The future of humankind is going to revolve around the norms of durability, sustainability and optimization; the future of B&C will be about growing skyward and becoming environmentally compatible and energy efficient. Aluminium is the future of architecture; be it sustainable housing, commercial spaces or aspirational architecture.
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