The Council has pursued a range of activities which have been disseminated through annual reports, and a large number of other user-friendly publications, brochures, technology packages, newsletters etc. With increasing interaction and rising expectations of related departments, organisations and agencies, the Council has lately restructured its thrust areas and scope of activities based on better understanding of the building sector and changing scenario of the construction industry in the context of economic liberalisation policies and programmes. The activities of BMTPC currently focus on the following areas :

The scarcity, frequent non-availability, constantly rising costs of building materials and declining quality of housing construction have been causing concern to Central and state governments. Despite a number of innovative energy efficient and low cost building materials and construction techniques developed by R&D institutions, these technologies have not been adopted in common construction practice. Lack of standards and specifications has been generally cited as the main factor coming in the way of wide scale adaptation of these innovative technologies.

BMTPC took up the task of formulating specifications on identified cost-effective building materials, components and construction techniques which have the potential for large scale adoption and bringing down the cost of housing and building construction. Several of these items were not so far covered by Indian standards and codes of practice. After the specifications were formulated by BMTPC, now available as a Council’s publication, titled "Standards and Specifications for Cost-Effective Innovative Building Materials and Techniques", the formulation of Indian standards and codes was taken up with the help of concerned Sectional Committees of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The Central Public Works Department has also incorporated a majority of these items in their schedules of specifications. The state governments of Orissa and Kerala have taken the lead in adopting many of these technologies. The Rajasthan Housing Board has also incorporated a number of these technologies in their schedule.

To encourage wide-spread production of flyash based building materials, BMTPC is closely interfacing with the Departments of Environment, Power, Central Electricity Authority, R&D Organisations, State Housing Finance Organisations and entrepreneurial community all over the country. At the national level, substantial progress has been achieved in terms of creating awareness about the techo-economic advantages of conversion of wastes/by-products like flyash and phosphogypsum into need based building materials. The following are some of the indicators of progress achieved so far in different regions:

In response to the fast expanding construction sector and pace of industrialisation, a large variety of building materials and products are being manufactured and supplied in the Indian market. But there is a large demand for information about new products. Recognising the need of professionals for possible applications in the buildings, a Directory of Indian Building Materials and Products 1996-97, with information on Nepal and Bhutan, has been brought out by the Council in collaboration with the Centre for Symbiosis of Technology Environment and Management. The Directory was released by the Prime Minister of India on the occasion of World Habitat Day 1996. Besides providing information pertaining to technical aspects and availability of different building materials, the Directory presents data relating it to Indian standards, specifications and manufacturing status of materials. New building materials and construction technologies developed by leading R&D organisations in the country have also been included.

In order to promote production of cost-effective building materials and improve their availability in different regions, the following machines have been developed under the sponsored programme of the Council:

As a part of promotional efforts, the Council is keen to set up production centres in different regions to demonstrate and manufacture innovative and cost-effective building materials and construction technologies. Such facilities are being set up as a unit of the Council by the state or local agencies, building centres or voluntary organisations which are in a position to provide demonstration and training to disseminate the benefits of cost-effecive technologies among local people. The Council has supported establishment of more than 25 such production centres in the country. These production centres not only strengthen the production of cost-effective building components but also improve their availability in different regions.

The Council has developed a technology for utilisation of rubber-wood in making door/window frames and shutters according to Indian standards. The final product has already been tested as per standards and has been found suitable for use in buildings. Another type of door frame and shutter has been developed based on the use of Poplar wood. The properties of Poplar were elevated for producing flush doors; panel doors and door frames. The technologies have been transferred to entrepreneurs for production at commercial level. The Council has also developed door shutters from Rubber-wood and polystyrene core, and rigid PVC foam board for use as core for door shutters, panels and partitions. The final products have been tested in the laboratory and the technology is ready to be transferred for commercialisation.

This publication fulfills a long standing need to create a national inventory for sourcing construction machinery and equipment manufactured in India. With the projected rise in the volume of the construction activities and fast increasing mechanisation, the role of equipment and machinery in construction is becoming crucial. The present Directory covers the corporate and product profiles of nearly 600 equipment manufacturers in India. A list of selected international manufacturers has also been included.