The Cuban Structure and Material Development Research Center (CIDEM), part of Las Villas' Central University, won the World Habitat Award, sponsored by the United Nations.

Doctor of Sciences Jose Martirena, director of the CIDEM Materials and Sustainable Construction group, told press those workers are the authors of the project that won the prize from among some 1,200 from the entire world.

The prize will be awarded in The Hague, Holland, on October 1, World Habitat Day, an event that will be celebrated in Monterrey, Mexico, on October 5.

The paper "Eco-materials for Social Construction" includes 15 years of labor to create construction materials that do not endanger the environment and respond economically to the need for housing.

Among these products figure the old formula for pozzolanic cement (from fly or volcanic ash) with natural elements, and others derived from industrial waste, brick, with energy saving technology and bamboo.

Martirena said the CIDEM, part of the University Constructions Department, is developing projects in 22 Cuban municipalities, and has built 2,000 houses in Latin America and Africa.