– C&F Mall adopts in building three-storey structure for oil sector

The C&F Harbour Bridge Mall, located on the East Bank Demerara (EBD), is one of the first local businesses in Guyana to use MST Fibre-Glass Rebars to construct a three-story building to service the country’s booming oil and gas sector.

Recently, the company cast the foundation of the 156 feet by 25 feet structure using only MST rebars.

C&F Mall’s proprietor, Peter Fraser, said “the building is 156 feet by 25 feet wide, and I am targeting the oil sector in the first instance,” while adding that he chose MST-Rebars because his engineer had recommended it as a very durable product to him.

Buildings servicing the oil sector require a high construction standard, which could be why Fraser’s engineer decided to use MST-Rebars.

MST-Rebars is distributed by Mings Products and Services (MPS). It was first introduced to the local market in July last year at the Guyana International Building Expo, where it sparked a lot of interest among contractors and the public.

According to John Chin, the Operation Manager of MPS, “Mr. Fraser (owner of C&F Mall) is one of the first two businesses that went ahead and ordered the product”.

Chin explained that not only will C&F Mall benefit from the economical pricing of the MST-Rebars, but its tensile strength is three times stronger than that of the traditional rebars. Additionally, unlike traditional steel rebars, this product is made of glass fiber strands and coated with resin, making it highly resistant to corrosion, with just a quarter the weight of steel.

“It also gives you the opportunity and confidence that moisture will not corrode your reinforcement because it is totally non-reactive to water, and moisture, even if the water has some amount of salt in it, is perfectly safe, so Mr. Fraser has no worries about corrosion of his foundation,” Chin said as he pointed out that the traditional steel bars tend to corrode after some years causing the concrete to crack.

Using MST-Rebars also reduces the amount of concrete used to construct buildings.

“You can also reduce the concrete required…with steel, you would need about two inches of cover between the steel and the surface of the concrete, mainly to minimise moisture intrusion and to affect the steel rebar. you can reduce that cover by 3 1/4 of an inch.” Chin added.

Other benefits of MST-Rebars are that there is no added expense for coated bars, handling costs are reduced significantly, less labour is required to set up, and there is no wastage of materials.

“Whatever is needed is cut to length in the factory and then shipped to Guyana and delivered to Mr. Fraser, and that is what he installs here, so if you look around, there are no pieces of the green around the site as wastage”, noted Chin.

Apart from their strength and resistance to corrosion, MST bars are used in countries like Canada and the United States because of their post-construction benefits, such as non-interference concerning communication signals (critical in hospital operating rooms), reduction of stray currents in central electric installations and automatic grounding from lightening (crucial when building swimming pools and the base of racks for solar installations).

Contact can be made with any MPS representative to purchase MST rebars for your building projects. The company has an engineering team prepared to advise customers on the designs of MST-Rebars.