Why Light Gauge Steel/CFS buildings have become the building option for residents in many countries such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and others.

Ashour Light Gauge Steel Buildings (Cold Formed Steel Framing/ CFS) in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia provides superior quality, fast construction & optimum price for quality.
Light Gauge Steel Buildings (Cold Formed Steel Framing) today are considered the most innovative, high-quality building system in the world, with lifespan that can exceed 250 years.
The concept is to use high quality galvanized elements as walls and joists in different sizes and shapes to form a very strong super structure that behaves better than the present concrete and any other type of structure in the market.

Climate challenges:

In hot weather climates, such as Saudi Arabia, concrete buildings have always been difficult to keep cool. The natural properties of concrete will absorb heat in the day light and radiate it inside the building day and night, creating a makeshift furnace in your home, making it very difficult to cool your home during hot summer days.

With light gauge steel buildings, this is not even a problem. The ability and ease of use of insulation makes light gauge buildings ideal for any climate, be it hot or cold. This creates a lasting benefit for the owner, as insulation will also greatly reduce energy costs in during the lifetime of the building.
Another added benefit of the insulation in light gauge buildings is the extra sound insulation, making living in large, noisy cities more tolerable.
Other than its superior strength and quality, steel, when cold-formed, can be manipulated to produce a variety of shapes and designs. This gives us the option to really create buildings with unique designs that are not possible with concrete.

Initiatives that expand and develop Saudi’s technological development such as the ‘Building Technology Stimulus Initiative’ (permalink), that provide and “develop smart, affordable and sustainable housing units for the future” are essential for the continual growth and prosperity of Saudi Arabia.
Systems such as Ashour’s ‘Light Gauge Steel Buildings” can be the building block of the Building Technology Stimulus Initiative.

What Type of finishing can be used?

The walls forming the vertical structure are also the carrying walls for cladding/finishing, where all kinds of external and internal cladding can be used for various purposes.
Stone cladding, Composite aluminum panels, glass/ aluminum fascia, block, cement board, Gypsum Board and many other modern types of external and internal cladding to fit the required purpose, thermal insulation, sound attenuation, ballistic resistance, aesthetic architectural details requirements.

Replacement:

Today in many countries including Saudi Arabia, local workers avoid very demanding hard labor work environments, thus having a large number of foreign laborers working in the construction industry.

With systems such as light gauge steel or CFS, construction work becomes much more industrialized, efficient and clean. Gone are the days of dirty and dangerous manual labor, in such a system, any proud national can work in construction as a trained and professional labor worker.
In large scale projects built in remote areas, local workers can be trained to work on the light gauge system without much effort; this has been exercised and proven in remote areas in Africa by Ashourco, and in less than three weeks training Ashourco had a good team to build the project from A to Z, with zero accidents and a high quality product.

Advantages of Ashour Light Gauge Steel Buildings/cold formed steel framing:

1. Fast.
   Walls are supplied preassembled ready for erection.
   
   
2. Cost:
   Using this system will reduce cost and execution time noticeably compared to concrete structures and even regular steel structure.
   
   - Supplied wall units and floor units are light, no need for large or medium size cranes for erection. For handling at the same floor (at high floors), manual lifting can be applied where 3 to 4 workers can carry the wall.
   
   - Due to light weight and special design, the foundation requirements are less than it is for regular buildings, so, it is safer and less costly.
   
   
   
3. Rust resistance:
   All materials are galvanized to prevent the structure from future rust.
   
   
4. Seismic resistance:
   The buildings are light weight, thus resistance to earthquakes is much better.
   
   
5. Lightning resistant:
   Multiple conductive paths directly to the grounds.
   
   
6. In USA, Europe and the Far East, this type of building is the most used because of reliability, speed in execution and less cost.  
   
   
7. Fire resistant:
   Steel framing is noncombustible, so it does not help fire when it breaks.
   
   
8. This system can be applied to low (1 – 4 story) and medium rise buildings (5 to 10 story). System can be used in higher buildings, but then feasibility will be an issue.