Wood products represent a high percentage of all construction waste, as much as two thirds by some estimates, cast-in-place concrete formwork accounting for the majority of this. In-situ fabricated concrete formwork is also a very labor intensive activity. Preparation and removal of formwork can typically account for 40 percent of the total cost of cast-in-place concrete. Reduction in costs can be achieved by using reusable steel formwork and reusing wood formwork as many times as possible, but this works best with modular construction methods and is not suited for custom “one-off” projects. Another method to reduce waste and cost of formwork is to make the formwork a permanent, integral part of the cast-in-place assembly, widely in use today as insulating concrete forms.
The innovative use of fabric to form cast-in-place concrete is not a new one, but has been more of a novelty than anything else, limited mainly to art installations, furniture, and university experiments. But continued pressure to improve productivity and reduce costs without lowering the standard of quality has resulted in the emergence of new, viable methods for the widespread use of fabric formed concrete.