Dear Tom,

Did you hear about PERMATENTs ?  They are a kind of prefabricated tents
made of steel, which could also be used as roof over a house after the
emergency period is over.  They can be stacked in large numbers in a small
space, and transported to anywhere relatively easily.  Three pieces of Long
Rib, 1000 Galvanised Steel Sheeting (from British Steel) crimp curved into
a free-standing tent shape.  End walls are made of cotton canvas with
window at one end and door at the other. To install a tent, the steel edges
and canvas need to be buried 11 inches in the ground - no other fixing,
fixtures, framework, nuts and bolts are required.  The weight of a tent
(for 10 people to sleep during emergency) that creates a floor space of
12.5 square metre or 135 sft., is 100Kg (220lbs).  Cost of a tent in
Bangladesh was US$ 350. They have been used in Bangladesh and elsewhere
after cyclones and floods.

The 'inventor' of Permatent is David Sorril (an Englishman) and the name of
his company is AIDCOM International.  I knew his Bangladesh address before,
but could not find the business card now.

Best wishes,

Taher

At 05:13 PM 3/26/2001 +0100, you wrote:
>I am a final year student of architecture at the university of Derby in
>England. I was wondering if anyone at all out there had any information
>about the use of prefabricated buildings that have been used for either
>temporary or permenent shelter in relief situations. This topic is for use
>as my dissertation and I am mainly interested in the last 10 years and
>looking to the future. If anyone has any suggestions to where I should be
>looking or any information at all please contact me.
>
>
>Tom Sackett
>+447968102397
>E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>Or: [log in to unmask]

Muhammad Taher
House 42, Road 9A, Dhanmondi R/A
Dhaka 1209. Bangladesh
Tel : (880 2) 911 4472
email : [log in to unmask]