Displaying items by tag: government

UK: Construction firm John Sisk & Son has successfully concluded its construction of part of the Wembley Park mixed development using concrete produced with Ecocem’s ACT alternative circular cement. The concrete met design specifications for all elements, while reducing embodied CO₂ emissions by 70%. Construction Index News has reported that Capital Concrete and Creagh Concrete also participated in the project, which commanded €594,000 in Innovate UK funding.

US: Representatives of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) have testified before a congressional appropriations subcommittee that their organisations are investigating ways of incorporating ‘advanced construction methods’ into their operations. These methods include mass timber construction, as well as the use of carbon fibre-reinforced polymers, geosynthetics, ‘high-performance’ concrete mixes and composite materials. The stated aims of the investigations are to improve resilience, reduce costs and accelerate construction timelines.

NAVFAC Chief Engineer Keith Hamilton said that NAVFAC is currently piloting hybrid mass timber exterior envelope construction, including cross-laminated timber walls and diaphragms, at a childcare facility for Navy families. USACE Director of Military Programmes Dave Morrow said that USACE has designed a barracks featuring mass timber structural elements.

India: The Kerala state government’s Goods and Services Tax Department has uncovered alleged tax evasion in the state’s ready-mix concrete sector worth US$1.15m. The Hindu newspaper has reported that authorities raided 49 locations and discovered total hidden transactions worth US$6.46m.

UK: The planning committee of North Lincolnshire Council has refused planning permission for Welton Aggregates’ proposed 250t/day ready-mix concrete batching plant at Slate House quarry in Hibaldstow, Lincolnshire. Local press has reported that the decision followed a site visit by councillors, who discovered a breach of traffic conditions for existing permissions. The new concrete plant would have employed three people.

Cyprus: Ready-mix concrete workers are continuing a now two-week-long strike to demand higher rates of pay for overtime work. PhileNews has reported that the strikers are seeking an increase from 1.25 times the base rate to 1.4 times for weekdays and 1.8 times for weekends. They have reportedly rejected a compromise proposal by the government.

US: A study by Resource Recycling Systems found that 33% of construction and demolition materials (CDM) entering landfill in Summit County, Colorado, could be effectively diverted into CDM recycling. Concrete and aggregates were among the 11 materials included in the study. Local press has reported that county authorities aim to reuse or recycle 25% of CDM generated locally by 2028, and 50% by 2035. Landfill capacity will run out in 2078.

CDM constituted 30% of Summit County’s landfill intake during the study period.

Kenya: The Daily Nation newspaper has reported the value of contracts of various concrete pole suppliers to utilities provider Kenya Power. Bett Company, a subsidiary of China-based Zhai Yan Quan and Yang Yi, holds contracts worth US$1.49m, Line Enterprises holds contracts worth US$1.35m and Rai Cement holds contracts worth US$920,000.

Kenya Power is in the process of expanding its power supply network using concrete poles, with financial backing from the EU, European Investment Bank, French Development Agency and Japan International Cooperation Agency.

US: Authorities have issued a notice of violation to Orgain Ready Mix Concrete for an alleged spillage of concrete into the Red River near its Clarksville, Tennessee, ready-mix concrete plant. Local press has reported that the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation received reports of materials dumped at a location along the road from the site. A subsequent investigation found ‘cementitious staining’ and ‘solids-laden discharges’ on the riverbank.

US: The city council of Dublin, California, has enacted the Low-Carbon Concrete Code, requiring a given reduction in CO₂ emissions of all ready-mix concrete used in public and private construction projects. Independent News has reported that suitable alternatives to conventional concrete are locally available and offer cost parity, according to the city council.

France: Circular aggregates producer Néolithe has partnered with Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies and Groupe GCC to produce a fuel loading slab for a temporary bus depot in Marseille. The slab will be made of Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies’ H-UKR clinker-free cement and Néolithe’s mixed circular materials-based Anthropocite aggregates. The resulting slab will serve as a test for the use of H-UKR concrete in future Groupe GCC projects.

The partners say that a mix of H-UKR cement with 20% Anthropocite reduces CO₂ emissions by 63% compared to CEM II/A cement-based concrete produced using conventional aggregates, to 62kg CO₂eq/m³.

Groupe GCC executive vice-president Patrick Dubourg said "This project perfectly illustrates one of GCC's key priorities: implementing sustainable solutions. The work we've been doing for several years with Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies enables us to take tangible action in this direction, and the partnership with Néolithe enables us to take a further step in the direction of decarbonisation, an essential issue for construction.”

Laurence Hemerit, infrastructure director at customer Marseille Metropolitan Transport Authority (RTM), said "RTM found GCC's proposal very interesting in that it enabled us to carry out a large-scale, long-term comparative test to assess the qualities of low-carbon concrete. Our temporary bus storage site was therefore the ideal candidate for this experiment."