Page 26 - CO_July_2022

CONSTRUCTION TICKER TAPE this rising heat and ensure they stay cool indoors without spending

a considerable amount on electricity and related costs.
Magicrete’s AAC (Autoclaved Aerated Concrete) blocks are the
newest trend in the construction industry and can reasonably be
the solution everyone needs. AAC blocks are lightweight walling
materials that can substitute the traditional red clay brick. AAC
blocks also have high thermal insulation properties, enabling the
interior of the building to be at a far lower temperature than the
external environment. The ministry of Power has recently come up
with Energy Conservation Building Code for residential buildings
that calls upon use of walling materials with high thermal insulation
MAGICRETE’S AAC BLOCKS: THE IDEAL SOLUTION TO values. AAC Blocks have one of the best thermal rating in the
RISING HEATWAVES industry (K-value: 0.18 W/mK as against 0.9 of red bricks and 1.4 for
In today’s era, construction projects can bring even the most solid concrete walls). This makes it possible for households to save
complex and challenging designs to life. However, the success up to 30% on their electricity bills as there is a lesser load on the
of these projects lies squarely on the ability of the project manager requirement for air conditioning to maintain room temperature.
and everyone involved in finding the most suitable materials and Houses built with AAC blocks help keep the temperature indoors
supplies that go into its construction. Unfortunately, India has been up to 5 degrees cooler. This is because they have microscopic
suffering from record-breaking heat for the last couple of months. pores that make sure surface heat is not transmitted indoors.
According to government officials, last month was the third-hottest Not just this, AAC Blocks also come in handy during fire hazards.
April the country has seen over the past 122 years, from 1901 to Because of its mineral composition, AAC blocks have a fire rating
2022, and March was the hottest ever recorded. of 4 hours as they are composed of tiny non-connecting air
About 13 percent of Indian households currently have air- bubbles that ensure that heat or fire does not spread easily. So, in
conditioning, which will increase to 69 percent by 2040, pushing case of a fire or related hazards, buildings built using AAC blocks
the country’s electricity requirement up by three times from the are a lot safer. Magicrete is one of India’s most well-known new-
house cooling sector alone. While the heatwave and continual age building materials companies. With the immense success of
rise in temperatures over the years can be attributed to climate its flagship product, AAC Blocks, Magicrete has, over the years,
change and other factors, what is certain is that heatwaves will ventured into a wide range of construction solutions, including ALC
continue over the years. As per the World Weather Attribution group, Wall Panels, construction chemicals (tile adhesives & waterproofing
if global heating increases by 2 degrees Celsius, heatwaves like solutions) & Modular Buildings. Magicrete products over the past
this could occur once every five years. So, it is safe to say that decade have been used to build over 5 lakhs+ homes and save
everyone should start finding alternatives to help them cope with them from the dread of heatwaves.

LODHA DEVELOPERS ANNOUNCES $1 BILLION PARTNERSHIP MIGSUN GROUP TO INVEST `1000 CRORE IN PMAY
WITH LVANHOÉ CAMBRIDGE AND BAIN CAPITAL PROJECT IN LUCKNOW
Macrotech Developers (Lodha), has announced a partnership NCR-based real estate developer Migsun will invest `1000 crore
with Bain Capital and Ivanhoé Cambridge to develop a next- in development of 3200-unit high rise apartments complex
generation green digital infrastructure platform. The platform will in Lucknow under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). The
establish a pan-India presence in the digital infrastructure space per unit price will not be higher than `4500 per sq. ft. With the
that includes logistics and light industrial parks as well as in-city residential sale at an all-time high there is a big demand for quality
fulfillment centers. houses in the affordable category. This is where this project stands
The platform will jointly invest ~$1 billion to create ~30 million out. Since it also carries an upper cap of `4500 psf, it effectively
sq. ft. of operating assets to serve India’s digital economy. Each guarantees that the units will always remain within easy reach of
of the 3 partners will have a ~33% equity interest in the property most buyers. It is also the company’s first project under PMAY. The
ownership, whilst Lodha will lead the development, operations project is located in a 16-acre land at Shaheed Path. An area of
and management of the assets. Following the government’s focus 3 lakh sq ft has been demarcated for commercial development.
on improving logistics efficiency and creating jobs in different It is company’s second project in the Lucknow.
parts of the country, the platform will plan the development of The first project, Migsun Janpath is located at Shaheed Path in
industrial and logistics parks as well in-city fulfillment centers across the city and falls in the premium commercial category. Migsun
multiple cities in India. And we will focus on building and operating is one of NCR’s major real estate companies and has delivered
this digital infrastructure to the highest levels of environmental more than 40 projects. In the next one year the Group will hand-
sustainability with the view to creating a global benchmark. over 4,000 apartments and commercial properties in six projects.
The first project is a ~110-acre logistics and industrial park Currently its projects are located at Noida, Greater Noida, Raj
development at Palava, an established location for digital Nagar Extension, Ghaziabad and Lucknow.
infrastructure in Mumbai. Additionally, the platform has already Recently, the company has taken up the development of a stuck
started looking at the pan-India acquisitions of land and project under Project Management Consultancy model in Greater
developed/ under-development projects in these asset classes. Noida.

26 CONSTRUCTION OPPORTUNITIES|JULY 2022