<p>A material that holds the hybrid advantage of strain-hardening technical benefit and 100% eco-friendliness is popularly called as Engineered Geopolymer Composites (EGC). The recent trend in EGC studies is the development of special feature in EGC, among which the development of lightweight EGC grabbed recent attention. This paper attempts to apply the expanded vermiculite as the lightweight in assistance with river sand in high-strength EGC. The combination of GGBS and silica fume is considered as high-strength precursors. A 2% constant volume fraction of PolyVinyl Alcohol (PVA) fiber is adopted for Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) mechanism. The dosage of vermiculite was varied by 10% increment as a replacement to river sand upon mechanical, durability and microstructural assessments. Above 30% replacement resulted in poor strength. Increase in vermiculite content reduces the density, and increases the workability and durability characteristics. The density of 1771&#xa0;kg/m³ is achieved with 30% vermiculite mix. 10% vermiculite has improved the compressive strength compared to the control mix up to 3.5% and recorded the maximum strength of 72.26&#xa0;MPa. 20% and 30% vermiculite mixes showed a marginal decrement in strength than the control mix. Tensile-strain capacity of 5.076% is recorded by 30% vermiculite mix which is similarly efficient to flyash EGCs. Change in vermiculite did not show significant variation upon the tensile and flexural characteristics of the composite. 30% vermiculite has improved the durability upon chemical attack by 40%. Vermiculite occupies the pores of the river sand, makes the microstructure denser which leads to the improvement in the overall properties of the composite.</p>