Tata Steel to supply Fibre Reinforced Polymer quarantine cabins for Covid

Tata Steel along with its group companies Tata Projects and Tata Consulting Engineers will set up a 500-bed greenfield hospital on 5-acre in Kasargod in Kerala.

With design specifications and inputs from Tata Projects and Tata Consulting Engineers, Tata Steel will supply a range of modular pre-fabricated Completely Built Units to be used primarily as quarantine and isolation cabins, rest rooms, canteens and other service units within the hospital.

The pre-fabricated units are being produced by Tata Steel’s brand Nest-In by the Tubes Division and New Materials Business in collaboration with eight manufacturing partners across the country.

Tata Steel will use Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) to manufacture quarantine units for the first time in India. FRP is positioned as a new-age alternative building material that makes viable mass-production solution for the future.

Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice-President, Technology & New Materials Business, Tata Steel, said FRP sandwich sheets were used for the walls and roof while the doors were also made of FRP, which is a more durable material than traditional options.

The design was optimised to keep the price point similar to that of an all-steel unit and to ensure timely supply of Covid cabins to Kasargod.

Each quarantine unit can accommodate five beds and one washroom. The FRP units are made using Tata Structura hollow sections with FRP walls and roof panels. They come with factory-fitted electrical and plumbing systems. The FRP offers benefits such as being lightweight, high strength to weight ratio and being easier and cheaper to transport. Moreover, FRP is completely corrosion-resistant and weatherproof, while offering maintenance-free service life, he said.

TV Srinivas Shenoy, Chief, New Materials Business, Tata Steel, said the company is working to create a tangible impact towards combating the Covid crisis through creating customised solutions for the healthcare sector.