Displaying items by tag: concrete
UK: Concrete admixture manufacturer Oscrete UK has become standalone company following its departure from Christeyns Group. The move is intended to spark a period of investment and allow for a renewed focus on core markets. Oscrete manufactures and supplies a range of super-plasticising admixtures,waterproofing agents and efflorescence controllers for the precast and ready-mix concrete and the ready-to-use mortar industries. It has operated within Christeyns Group since 1983.
Scott Wilson, director of Oscrete UK, said, “The pandemic brought considerable challenges in the construction sector, quickly followed by substantial growth and we’ve recognised we need a bespoke business model dedicated entirely to our industry to facilitate growth, new product development within our in-house development lab and specialist recruitment.
Portland Cement Association reports 3.6% rise in cement consumption to November 2021
24 January 2022US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) reports that cement consumption rose by 3.6% year-on-year in the first 11 months of 2021. Ed Sullivan, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at the PCA, made the announcement at the World of Concrete trade fair in Las Vegas, Nevada. He also forecast that cement consumption would be driven by non-residential and public works in 2023 and 2024 as mortgage rates increased. The country is also set to spend US$1tn on new and rehabilitated infrastructure projects and this would consume 46Mt of cement over a five-year program. Over a quarter of this amount would be used on roads, bridges and resiliency structures.
The PCA’s president and chief executive officer Mike Ireland and Senior Vice President of Sustainability Rick Bohan also spoke at the event to further promote the association’s Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality.
Russia: Germany-based Wacker has opened an additional laboratory in Moscow. The development site will focus on water-repellent silicone additives for cement and concrete. Mechanical pressure tests and ultrasound and temperature measurements are among the services that the new laboratory offers for water-repellent treatment of cement and concrete. The site is part of Wacker’s Innovation Hub for Cement and Concrete.
Wacker opened its first technical laboratory in Moscow in 2003. Both Wacker Silicones and Wacker Polymers now operate multiple labs in Moscow for construction chemical products. The new laboratory also hopes to collaborate with local universities and testing facilities and the first projects have already been commissioned.
British Precast merges with the Mineral Products Association
19 January 2022UK: British Precast, whose members include manufacturers of concrete masonry, paving slabs, structural sections and drainage systems, has merged with the Mineral Products Association (MPA) which represents all the UK’s cement makers, over 90% of aggregates producers and more than 70% of ready-mixed concrete suppliers. The merger is intended to give the British concrete industry a single voice, with the sector’s advocacy body, UK Concrete, lobbying on behalf of the sector on sustainability issues. It should also unite the industry behind the ‘Roadmap to Beyond Net Zero’ plan by 2050.
Alan Smith, who retires as President of British Precast, said, “British Precast has been affiliated with the MPA for the past decade and the successful relationship we have built has given our members the confidence to fully support this merger. Coming together enables the industry to operate more strategically, rejuvenating our determination to rise to the challenges of climate change and emphasise the importance of our industry in climate adaptation.”
Two new MPA product groups have been formed as a result of the merger: MPA Precast and MPA Masonry. They join existing MPA product groups including The Concrete Centre and the British Ready-mixed Concrete Association (BRMCA).
Cemex supplies concrete for Khalifa Port
14 January 2022UAE: Cemex has supplied 400,000m3 of advanced semi-dry heavy-duty concrete to Abu Dhabi Ports Group’s Khalifa Port. Cemex said that the concrete’s composition maximises its lifespan, increasing sustainability.
There have been a couple of acquisitions of note this week in the north-western US and Holcim has picked up another building solutions company. To find out how the latter relates to former photography products producer Kodak, read on.
Starting with the north-western US, HeildelbergCement announced that it finalised the acquisition of Corliss Resources, a large family-owned aggregates and ready-mixed concrete company, for an undisclosed sum. The purchase includes major aggregate operations with sales volumes of about 2Mt/yr and reserves and resources of about 170Mt and four ready-mixed concrete (RMX) plants selling about 0.3Mm3/yr in the Greater Seattle area.
Global Cement normally sticks to cement but Holcim did something similar last week. It completed the acquisition of Cowden, another ready-mixed concrete and aggregate producer based in Bellingham in Washington state. This sale includes two RMX plants, eight aggregate facilities and a hauling fleet. Again, there was no word of the price.
Both the HeildelbergCement and Holcim purchases in the north-western US fit the selective bolt-on approach both companies have favoured in recent years. Looking specifically at the US, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported that estimated production for consumption of construction sand and gravel grew by 7% year-on-year to 753Mt in the first nine months of 2021. Estimated total construction aggregate production rose by 5% to 1.9Gt. Within the country, Washington’s sales of construction aggregates increased by 16% to 33Mt, the third largest rate by state nationally. Meanwhile, cement shipments for the country grew by 4% to 79.9Mt although they actually fell by 3% in Washington. This compares to annual growth of 2.8% in cement consumption in 2021 that the Portland Cement Association (PCA) was forecasting for the Pacific region of the US in the middle of 2021.
Holcim has been snapping up aggregates or RMX assets in established markets throughout 2021. These include US-based Marshall Concrete Products in December 2021, US-based Utelite Corporation in September 2021, Germany-based Heinrich Teufel in July 2021, the aggregates business and two RMX plants from Greece-based Halyps in May 2021 and Edile Commerciale and Cemex Rhone Alpes in Italy and France in February 2021. At the same time HeidelbergCement was mainly divesting itself of aggregates and RMX assets. It sold Halyps to Holcim and later in the same month agreed to sell its US West region to Martin Marietta Materials for US$2.3bn. The deal included cement, aggregates, RMX and asphalt businesses in California, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada. This covered two of its cement plants, with the exception of the 1.5Mt/yr Permanente cement plant in California, related distribution terminals, 17 active aggregates sites and several downstream operations. This makes the acquisition of new aggregate and RMX assets in Washington by HeildelbergCement interesting as we can see the company adjusting to its new market position. Although subsidiary Lehigh Hanson does not have a cement plant in the state it does operate a terminal in Seattle as well as other aggregate and RMX operations. North across the border in Canada though it still runs the integrated Delta Cement plant and terminal near Vancouver.
Returning to Holcim’s other acquisition this week brings us to Holcim’s target to expand the net sales of its Solutions & Products division to 30% of the group total by 2025 as part of its plans to decarbonise. This week it took one more step towards this goal with an agreement to buy France-based PRB Group, a manufacturer of coatings, insulations, adhesives and flooring systems. Global Cement Weekly has covered this topic a few times but, to recap, it started in January 2021 when Holcim announced it was buying roofing and building envelope producer Firestone Building Products for US$3.4bn. Various other related acquisitions have followed including an agreement to buy US-based Malarkey Roofing Products in December 2021.
How any of this relates to Kodak is as follows. Holcim’s predecessor Lafarge previously owned a major business away from cement, concrete and aggregates, namely gypsum. The gypsum wallboard business, like roofing, emits far less carbon than clinker production. In 2010 Lafarge’s gypsum business constituted nearly 9% of group revenue and it described itself as the third largest company in the sector worldwide. This was divested in the early 2010s in response to debts accrued by Lafarge’s acquisition of Orascom Cement in 2008. A decade later this decision appears to be the opposite of Holcim’s current strategy and indeed much of the cement sector’s current attempts to lower its carbon risk.
Kodak infamously filed for bankruptcy in 2012 after failing to move from analogue photography products to the digital market. The question cement company strategists should be asking themselves is whether their sector faces the same kind of disruption from the government and investment response to climate change. Lafarge apparently didn’t think so 10 years ago. Its successor Holcim does.
EGY Crete to establish concrete products plant in Beni Suef
12 January 2022Egypt: Capriole subsidiary EGY Crete plans to establish a concrete products plant in Beni Suef Province by 2024. The plant will produce paving slabs, among other products.
Mexico: Cemex’s total dispatches of its Vertua reduced-CO2 concrete in Mexico reached 284,000t in 2021. After launching the product in its home country on 8 December 2020, the company supplied it to 3820 sites throughout 2021. Cemex says that it enters 2022 with 1580 orders outstanding.
Holcim and Magment to develop magnetisable concrete technology for electric vehicle charging
06 January 2022Switzerland/Germany: Holcim has announced the launch of a strategic partnership with inductive charging technology developer Magment to test and commercialise magnetisable concrete technology for use in roads. The technology will power and charge electric vehicles as they drive on roads fitted with Magment. Another possible application is in industrial floors, to charge robots and forklifts.
Holcim’s Global Innovation Center head Edelio Bermejo said: “At Holcim we are innovating to put concrete at the centre of our world’s transition to net-zero. With Magment, we are excited to be developing concrete solutions to accelerate electric mobility. Partnering with start-ups all over the world, we are constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation to lead the way in sustainability.”
Oman: The German University of Technology in Oman (GUTech) has 3D printed a 190m2 house in Halban, Al Batinah South governorate, using conventional concrete. Trade Arabia News has reported that the structure is the world’s largest 3D printed building. GUTech applied Denmark-based Cobod’s D.fab product to print the building using Mexico-based Cemex’s concrete in five days.