ABOUT
ECO Buildings Group
ECO Buildings Group PLC is an AIM listed company providing new solutions for the housing market. It comprises two divisions - Eco Buildings Group Ltd which provides housing solutions based on Glass Fibre Reinforced Gypsum (“GFRG”) technology while Fox Marble provides processed marble quarried in the Balkans for use in construction and developments.
By combining the ground breaking construction methods of Eco Buildings with the experience and market foothold of Fox Marble into a combined group, Eco Buildings Group is able to provide the ultimate turnkey building solution that is ecologically and environmentally responsible as well as able to provide finishes to the highest standards.
Further details, contacts and sales information can be found by following the links below.
History of the Group
Eco Buildings was established in 2021 to acquire the business and assets of Gulf Walling FZCO in Dubai.
A HISTORY OF ECO BUILDINGS
Gulf Walling had invested over $6 million in the technology and process for the construction of fibre-reinforced gypsum and walling system (“GFRG”). GFRG is an alternative construction method which can be leveraged to achieve faster and more economic construction of residential, commercial and industrial dwellings.
Technology acquired by the Subsidiary has been proven in the construction of high-quality, affordable, low-and medium-rise residential and commercial buildings for well over 30 years in such markets as Australia, India, China, the Middle East and Southern Europe.
By placing GFRG technology at the centre of its construction approach, Ecobuild captures many inherent advantages compared to conventional construction and other ‘smart’ building technologies.
These advantages derive from:
Off-site Prefabrication: Ecobuild manufactures its GFRG sections in its own controlled factory setting to the exact dimensions, specifications and delivery sequence required at site in order to realise in the most streamlined way possible the construction design and project programme of Ecobuild or its end customer; and
Economic base raw material: Ecobuild uses gypsum (or plaster) powder as the main bulk raw material for the product, together with smaller amounts of cheaper additives such as glass fibre and silicon resin which improve the strength and water resistance of the product. Gypsum itself is the lightest, cheapest, most widely available and ecological of all comparable basic building materials.
Eco Buildings, relocated operations to Durres in Albania where a new manufacturing facility is being built. The founders of Eco Buildings then used their significant knowledge and contracts in the region to secure two large-scale contracts for the construction of housing units using the GFRG technology, which will form the corner stone of the Eco Buildings business in the future.
Eco intends to offer a turnkey solution to large and small scale developers, with standard frame two and three bedroom residential units constructed with all utilities installed, ready for the developers to make finishing decorative touches.
Eco Building also intends to develop small scale, locally deployed “pop up” manufacturing plants for “just in time, on site” production of its products for large-scale housing developments and mixed used communities.
By establishing Eco Buildings’ operations in Albania, the Directors believe that this will allow for greater customer accessibility and shorter supply chains which will reduce costs as the Group targets growth in the Balkan region. Durres is also well connected with transport links to Eastern Europe and hosts a deep-water container port.
As part of its medium-term strategy, the Enlarged Group will target geographies with appropriate new housing demand. It intends to develop locally deployed mobile manufacturing plants globally for “just in time, on site” production for large-scale housing developments.
“The combined Group will provide turnkey solutions for the construction of both affordable and high-end housing.”
In May 2023 Eco Buildings entered into an agreement to be acquired by Fox Marble Holdings Plc - an AIM listed dimensional stone business with operations within the Balkans in exchange for shares in the enlarged group. The acquisition which took the form of a reverse takeover and readmission to AIM. The enlarged group was renamed Eco Buildings Group Plc.
The combined Group will provide turnkey solutions for the construction of both affordable and high-end housing. Fox Marble’s expertise in Balkan region and in the provision of large-scale municipal contracts will integrate with Eco Buildings innovative product to provide a reliable and dedicated partner to large- and small-scale developers.
Fox Marble will be able to supply and process dimensional stone for use within housing projects, while the development of Eco Buildings product worldwide will help expand the reach of Fox Marble’s dimensional stone product.
An AIM listing will provide the financial resources that will enable Eco Buildings to scale the production capacity and penetrate global markets. We believe that strategic positioning within the construction section will help abate the global housing shortage.
A HISTORY OF FOX MARBLE
Fox Marble was founded by Chris Gilbert and Dr Etrur Albani in 2011 to exploit the extensive high quality, and in many cases unique, marble and dolomitic limestone reserves in Kosovo where the dimension stone industry had lain dormant for many decades.
Dimension stone quarries take time to open in a way which balances short-term yield and long-term potential. The geology has to be investigated in detail and adjustments made to the orientation of excavations. Three operating seasons (these are March/April to December/January in Kosovo and North Macedonia depending on the length and severity of the winters) to bring a quarry into consistent production is normal.
“Replacing expensive and logistically complicated processing in Italy with significantly less expensive and more agile processing in Kosovo was always a cornerstone of company strategy.”
Once work on opening the quarries had begun, Fox turned its corporate attention to its first processing factory. Replacing expensive and logistically complicated processing in Italy with significantly less expensive and more agile processing in Kosovo was always a cornerstone of company strategy.
The factory was designed in Italy around mostly Italian machinery. The building itself, in a prominent yellow, was purchased and shipped from Greece whilst all the construction work was undertaken, to exacting standards, by local companies. As soon as the building shell was complete a local artist was commissioned to paint the company name on the side of the building in letters large enough to be visible many km away and, importantly for such a pioneering investment, to be visible from aircraft taking off and landing from the nearby international airport. Those who have not seen it often assume that the name must have been Photoshopped!
The factory was completed in stages under the supervision of Italian and, latterly, Spanish specialists. The first of the vast gangsaws, which cut stone blocks into slabs, began cutting right at the end of 2016. The slab polishing line and the epoxy resin line became fully operational in late summer 2017 and the first exports of finished stone slabs to the US came shortly afterwards. Sophisticated machinery to produce stone tiles and other cut to size stone products was commissioned in 2018.