Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Asian Journal of Civil Engineering https://doi.org/10.1007/s42107-019-00133-1 ORIGINAL PAPER Cost feasibility and performance assessment of expanded polystyrene sheet over conventional method: a case study in Bhubaneswar Salman Khursheed 1  · Virendra Kumar Paul 1  · Md. Asif Akbari 1 Received: 21 March 2018 / Accepted: 28 February 2019 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 Abstract Urbanization is taking place in India at a faster rate which leads to high housing demand. The same is achieved by con- ventional construction method which consumes time, material and high energy resources. The world is also facing natural resources and energy crisis. Hence, for better natural resource optimization, it is imperative to adopt such construction methodologies and materials which reduce the construction cost, CO 2 emission, and at the same time speedy construction with least energy needs. To overcome given problems, researches have been done throughout the world in recent past, and many advanced materials and technologies are developed. One such advanced construction methodology is developed using expanded polystyrene sheet, i.e., EPS. This research paper aims at exploring all the possible selection indicators contribut- ing to sustainability and evaluation of EPS core panel system with wire mesh and chipping concrete, based on a real-time case study of a housing project in Bhubaneswar, Odisha (India), based on various parameters such as structural safety and durability, seismic analysis, cost efectiveness and ease in construction and maintenance. Keywords EPS · Sustainable material · Afordable and emerging material · Innovative construction techniques · Cost optimization Introduction India is urbanizing at a faster rate. In 1960, there were 18% of the Indian population living in urban areas whereas now its 33% of the total population who live in urban areas (The United Nations Population Division’s World Urbanization Prospects 2017). This huge shift of population is due to the migration of rural people to the urban areas as well as because of the transformation of small cities to large busi- ness hub. Four of India’s cities with 5–10 million inhab- itants in 2014 are projected to become megacities in the coming years which are Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, for a total of seven megacities projected in the country by 2030 (World Urbanization Prospects: The Revision 2014). As the population is increasing in urban areas as per data depicted in Fig. 1 , the construction activities are also increasing at a faster rate to cater their need of residence. It is so large that the housing sector alone contributes 5–6% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. In India, the Gov- ernment of India started the scheme called Pradhan Man- tri Awas Yojana—Housing for all under two categories “Urban” and “Rural”. Under “urban” category, total housing shortage envisaged to be addressed through the new mission is 20 million (Afairs 2017). Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana “Gramin” aims to provide the pucca houses to all the house- holds, and the number of houses to be constructed by the year 2021–2022 is 29.5 crore (Ministry of rural Develop- ment 2016). The real estate contribution to India’s GDP is estimated to increase to about 13% by 2028 (Real Estate 2017), which is to be taken care of as soon as possible. This large sector uses conventional method of construction with huge energy consumption, CO 2 emission, and pollution, and the pace of construction is slow and at the same time it involves very signifcant money. Faster and more aford- able methods of construction are required to fll the housing gap (Tezeswi and Tezeswi 2016). With the technological advancement it can be possible to make the whole building using freeform at low costs (Iskender and Karasu 2018). In the most developed nations of the world, it has been verifed that the conventional building technologies are inadequate * Salman Khursheed salman.khursheed@spa.ac.in 1 Department of Building Engineering and Management, School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, India