Lafarge Malaysia Bhd plans to set up a research and development laboratory to provide solutions to Malaysia’s construction industry and anticipated housing requirements.

Bradley Mulroney, President and CEO of the company said Malaysia faced its biggest challenge in offering an affordable prices for housing units, especially in the urban areas. "With most population dominating the urban areas and cost of living tremendously high, we do not want the people, especially the younger generation, to look for low-cost houses," he told Bernama.

The country’s leading cement producer now wants to identify solutions that could help reduce the cost of construction while providing quality homes.

"It is part of the lab's specialisation. We will undertake a lot of experiments and testings on different types of industrialised building systems," he said.