Representatives of 34 private local developers and nine local governments in the Bicol region, the Philippines attended a recent technology transfer and dissemination workshop on Climate-Change Resilient Pilot Housing (CCRPH). The workshop provided practical training on the design and construction of a low-cost, climate-adapted and energy-efficient house-building system, which will benefit low income families living in cities.

The training was led by The Bicol State College of Applied Sciences and Technology (BISCAST) in partnership with the City Government of Naga on 10-11 May 2018 in Naga City, the Philippines. Participating local governments in the Bicol Region included the cities of Legazpi, Tabaco, Naga, and Masbate and the municipalities of Daet, Pili, Sorsogon, and Virac and Camarines Norte Province. The BISCAST Nexus team also gave lectures on integrated resource management, green building and climate-resilient features as well as the operation of the different machines and processes used to construct the pilot house, including the multi-blocks vibrating machine, vibrating table, and beam fabrication.

The opening session was attended by Naga City Mayor John Bongat, who delivered inspirational remarks and expressed his gratitude to GIZ’s Urban Nexus team and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability – South East Asia (SEA). BISCAST President, Dr. Richard Cordial, welcomed participants to the training and provided an overview of the technologies and methodologies used to construct the CCRPH, a low-cost housing design targeting underprivileged urban dwellers. He explained that if participating local governments and private companies were interested in adopting the CCRPH technologies, BISCAST would provide more in-depth and hands-on technology-transfer training.

Following its inauguration in 2016, the CCRPH secured certification from the Accreditation of Innovative Technologies for Housing (AITECH) of the Philippine National Housing Authority (NHA) in December 2017. It also obtained a Kamagong (highest) rating from the Philippine Green Building Initiative (PGBI), which recognised the CCRPH as the second greenest building in the country.

Currently, the intellectual property rights for the vibrating machine, precast vibrating table, and four different molds used for the construction of the hollow concrete blocks are pending. Despite this, BISCAST President Dr. Cordial assured participants that the technology transfer would be provided for free to interested parties through a memorandum of agreement.

BISCAST is now organising a Forum on the Adoption of the Urban Nexus Approach at Masbate State College during which the CCRPH technology will be presented. To further strengthen promotion of the CCRPH, BISCAST will give a presentation at the Regional Development Council of the National Economic Development Authority (RDC-NEDA) meeting this coming June.

The CCRPH is one of the outcomes of the Integrated Resource Management in Asian Cities: the Urban NEXUS project implemented by the GIZ in partnership with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability – South East Asia (SEA). The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).