The model house in Namibia was donated to the Namibian government and independently dismantled by the semi-skilled Namibian forces at the conference location in Windhoek and rebuilt as a donation for a needy 8-person family in Katatura. The floor plan was changed once again and additional MAS elements were supplied from Germany. The newly designed house was handed over to the Phillips family by the President of Namibia in a festive ceremony in February.
In March the Namibian Minister of Housing visited PolyCare in Gehlberg and concluded an MOU with the Thuringian government for the development of housing in Namibia. Further negotiations for the settlement of PolyCare in Namibia took place in the following months and in May the Thuringian Prime Minister visited the already realised house project in Katatura. In June, PolyCare built a show house as a “Garden Office” in Surrey, UK. In the same month, PolyCare was awarded the Material Prize in Stuttgart and prevailed against more than 270 competitors, some of them very prominent, from the fields of architecture and research.
August was marked by the founding of PolyCare Research Technology Namibia (Pty) Ltd. in Windhoek. This joint venture with local construction companies and an investment group of the governing party is building a pilot plant in Brankwater, which will go into operation in spring 2018. In October, PolyCare Research Technology SADC Holding (Pty) Ltd. was founded in Somerset West, South Africa.
Throughout the year, research and development was the focus of activities in Gehlberg and was characterized by even more intensive cooperation with the universities in Thuringia (Bauhaus University in Weimar and TU Ilmenau) and Bavaria (University of Munich). The MAS elements became even more economical and environmentally friendly through further developments (T-stones). In addition to continuously strengthening the team over the course of the year, Anant Suchak, who is already acting as CFO for PolyCare from London, was added to the group of shareholders at the end of the year through a capital increase.
