So far, we have weathered the ugliest year imaginable, somehow finding a mixture of ingenuity, courage and risk, to sanitise, while discovering new capabilities, priorities and schemes of things to kick start everything from economies and building sites, to transforming simple mundane actions into life savers.

Much, in the future, will be written about our resolve.

We now live in a thinking and planning environment, more than we ever imagined possible.

As humans, we are gregarious by nature.  As Caribbean people, we hug, kiss, dance up and party.  So one might ponder a thought on how our engineers, developers, planners and architects are to meet these challenges of separation, while keeping our natural togetherness, together.  How do we stop others from spreading, while being who we are.

Recent incidents in Florida and other cities of America have failed to control the conflict between pandemic and party. However, we are made of different logic.  We have nothing to prove when it comes to common sense over constitutional will. We will contain our problems by our understanding and use of space, environment, nature and sociology.

Our Caribbean future may appear stalled by external forces, but at every juncture, we are finding new ways to work with what we have.

Pre pandemic and fifty plus years ago, Cuba embarked on a determined course, unfettered by ‘big brother’ arresting their country’s development.  Their success through this trial, is without a doubt, their remarkable sense of self sufficiency.

Innovation and adaptation, conservation of resources and a will to be self determining, are, in many ways, what COVID-19 has compelled us all to become and in our truly island way, have always been.  Sadly, those skills in recent years, had been replaced by a disposable and consumer driven existence.

Now we must find new ways to satisfy new protocols, while making sure that the best of our culture remains, evolves and stays intact.

Our new mantra consists of planning, conceptualising, humbling grand tastes and finding solutions which endorse function over form.

Finding new ways to deploy labour and better machinery, to do more with less risk, are of priority.  Organising the functions of our workforce to understand team efficiency, rather than the traditional laissez-faire attitude, will be the saving grace of essential industries and small businesses alike.

COVID- touches us all.  So we must all respond.

If there are underlying messages to 2020, they are opportunity, re-evaluation, frugal choices and important long term, well managed investments.  These will make our lives sustainable, insulated, safer and more able to meet the possibility of future world problems, at a personal level.

At ECMIL our products are in constant review, to maintain international standards in quality steel.  The range is designed to fully integrate with environmental requirements and adaptable to meet innovation in design. 

Construction must look to incorporating ever better techniques and materials to channel and control our conservation efforts, while building unobtrusive distancing and easily sanitised structures.

We should change the flow of our architecture, to create adequate ‘pauses’ in our day to day living.  More indoor outdoor environments will use natural air to ventilate, cool and reduce the risks of infection, which stale air and stuffy spaces can bring.

We manufacture the key materials which, in concert with fresh design ideas, can assist the development of post COVID structures, linked to our unique environment, while maintaining ‘new normal’ protocols.

Our ancestors knew and did these things.  We now have the advantage of advanced engineering, combined with resistant quality concrete and steel, to meet our weather challenges, as global warming has become a reality.  Our culture is resilience and our future combines the old lessons with new technology.

Solar energy investment, water harvesting and conservation, localised gardening, planting herbs and citrus to combat the increase in insects, while minimising harmful chemicals, are just some of the ways we can move towards a more well tuned lifestyle.  

Self sufficiency is not just a kitchen garden.  It is the accumulation of pertinent knowledge to secure our region
and its citizens for generations to come.

All of these goals are not out of reach.

At ECMIL we believe in strengthened structures, reduced radiated heat, bulk water storage and managed rainwater to reduce erosion. 

These are sensible beginnings in our new world.

Rebar and welded mesh, quality COLORBOND® and Zincalume® roof sheeting, Plyco Plyfoil® roof insulation,
K-style guttering and PVC piping, custom built water storage and drain run offs; the range is comprehensive,
the combinations endless and the durability assured.

Contact us.  Take advantage of our in depth knowledge of our materials. Plan, make your order and build smarter today for tomorrow, with ECMIL.