22 January 2012

Protea, a solutions for reconstruction & low cost housing, by Jean-Yves L’Hostis, ArcelorMittal

ArcelorMittal presented its PROTEA reconstruction and low cost housing product. This housing solution was produced within the context of a new housing regulation coming about in South Africa. ArcelorMittal could base this development process on some prior experience of working in disaster response contexts.
In its development process, many of the aspects supporting a good sheltering process were taken into account, such as options of local production, climate considerations, easy-construction manuals, minimal transportation volume and weight etc. The PROTEA system has subsequently gone through testing in Europe and several prototypes have been built in Europe, South Africa and the Middle East. Regardless of the fact that this product is only relevant for sheltering responses in certain countries, the process that ArcelorMittal went through to come up with this product is interesting in itself. The discussion following the presentation highlighted cost structure, adaptability of the design and life cycle of the product, among other issues.

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