Displaying items by tag: Housing programme

Azerbaijan: Cement companies increased the total volume of cement produced in the first eight months of 2021 by 1.5% year-on-year to 2.2Mt from 2.17Mt in the corresponding period of 2020. Meanwhile, ready-mix concrete production increased sharply, by 39% to 1.7Mt from 1.3Mt.

On-going large-scale state construction projects the new territories East of Zangazur and Karabakh are anticipated to increase full-year cement production in 2021 and into subsequent years.

France: Social housing association Podeliha has awarded a cement supply partnership to Hoffman Green Cement Technologies. The subsidiary of Action Logement group operates in the Pays de la Loire region.

Managing directors Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann said, “We are delighted with the signing of this partnership which is beneficial both for the current commercial dynamic of Hoffmann Green Cement and more generally for the development of low carbon solutions in the construction sector in the Pays de la Loire region. Podeliha is a benchmark leader in social housing in Pays de la Loire. The promotion of low carbon footprint cements without clinker among many players in the construction and ecosystem of Podeliha is a strong support for the development of Hoffmann Green in its region. This convention also proves that it is possible to reconcile social housing and high environmental performance in the construction sector.”

India: LafargeHolcim subsidiary ACC facilitated the construction of around 31,500 affordable homes across India through its Green Building Centres in 2020. The retail franchise offers reduced-CO₂ concrete blocks and other alternatives to traditional brick. The company uses the centres for its Mason Training Programme, which helps develop construction skills. Each Green Building Centre employs on average 30 people. Throughout the year, the company established 43 new centres, bringing its total number to 100.

Managing director and chief executive officer Sridhar Balakrishnan said, "Green Building Centres is a unique programme which aims to provide affordable housing, sanitation solutions and rural and semi-urban pavement solutions. It is a key pillar in our plan for people and communities in India. At ACC, we believe in embracing communities and working together to effect real change. Through the Mason Training Programme, we also give real opportunities to young Indians for self-development. We not only want to build our nation with sustainable building solutions but also empower the nation's youth through entrepreneurship, livelihood and skill development initiatives."

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement’s cement sales in the first quarter of 2021 were US$11.3m, up by 22% year-on-year from US$9.27m in the first quarter of 2020. Volumes increased by 13% to 266,000t from 236,000t. The company said that it remained close to full capacity utilisation. It says that it increased its Kazakh cement market share to over 13%. The market grew by 12% year-on-year in total. The producer reported an 11% price rise and constant levels of tariffs and rental expenses.

Steppe Cement forecast an increase in domestic cement demand due to government infrastructure and housing projects.

Nigeria: BUA Cement and Dangote have signed an agreement with the government to supply cement at a discounted rate for the construction of 300,000 homes under the government’s Mass Housing Programme, according to The Sun newspaper.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said that the producers have agreed to provide cement for this project at a ‘considerable’ discount, which he described as ‘very helpful.’ He added, “Also important is the job creation aspect of it. You have young men and women who are builders, architects and civil engineers working on this project. We are hoping that a lot of the other building materials will be made locally.”

Brazil: The National Cement Industry Union (SNIC) has estimated a 3.7% year-on-year increase in total cement sales to 26.9Mt in the first half of 2020 from 25.9Mt in the corresponding six months of 2019. Export sales rose by 56% to 84,000t from 54,000t. Sales increased by 7.7% month-on-month in June 2020, however SNIC president Paulo Camillo Penna expressed worries about demand going forward into the second half of 2020.

“The cement industry is responsible for more than 70,000 jobs, generates an income US$4.94bn and an annual net collection of US$562m. We are very sensitive to the macroeconomic scenario and government stimuli. For this reason, the cement industry is anxiously awaiting the launch of the new government housing project, ’Casa Verde Amarela,’ which is expected to leverage the real estate and renovation market more strongly, and restarting works on 100,000 housing units,” said Penna.

Senegal: The government plans to introduce a new tax on cement to support a house-building campaign. President Macky Sall said that the tariff would increase the cost of bags of cement, according to the Agence de Presse Sénégalaise. He added that the country has the cheapest cement in the region.

Plans for the former Shoreham cement plant on the south coast of England took an exciting turn towards the end of 2014. Zero carbon design firm Zedfactory announced its plans to regenerate the brownfield site into an eco-resort featuring holiday homes, performance space, affordable homes, a hotel and conference centre, a watersports venue, wildlife preserves and more. Or, ' hobbit homes' as the Daily Mail put it when it covered the story six months later.

This raises the question of what happens to cement plants when they close?

In the UK, where a housing shortage in certain areas collide with NIMBY (not in my back yard) attitudes and strict planning regulations, former industrial or brownfield sites are prime sites for new housing developments. Subsequently, old cement plants are attractive to builders to build houses. Two examples of current sites heading this way include the former Cemex plant in Barrington, Cambridgeshire and the former Lafarge Eastgate plant in County Durham. Both sites have gained planning permission and were still in the pre-building stage according to local press reports in mid-2015. Dylan Moore's website 'Cement Plants and Kilns in Britain and Ireland' provides a good resource on former plants in the UK and Ireland.

One of the jokes about classic UK science-fiction television series Dr Who was that during the 1970s it was either filmed on cheap studio sets or in quarries. Endless encounters with alien beings took place in cement plant quarries including Lafarge Northfleet (alien in spacesuits), Lafarge Aberthaw (tentacle faced aliens), Hanson Ketton (Arthurian knights who may in fact be aliens...) and many more. Indeed, one of the conditions of the proposed Lafarge Eastgate sale in March 2015 was that a television production company could continue to use the quarry to film an adaptation of Beowulf for five years!

On the more imaginative side of what to do with old plants, La Fabrica near Barcelona is a spectacular example. Architect Ricardo Bofill converted a 19th century plant into his firm's head office, La Fabrica, and his own personal residence. As Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura's website puts it, "Eight silos remained, which became offices, a models laboratory, archives, a library, a projections room and a gigantic space known as 'The Cathedral', used for exhibitions, concerts and a whole range of cultural functions linked to the professional activities of the architect." Architecturally the project refers to Catalan Civic Gothic style with surrealist elements.

This sense of entertainment from industrial architecture was continued by sculptor Bob Cassilly in St Louis, USA who decided to build Cementland. Cassilly purchased the former plant and slowly assembled his clinker-themed version of Disneyland. Unfortunately he died in 2001 following an accident with a bulldozer at the site before he finished.

More and more former cement plants will be seeking new purposes as Europe rationalises its cement industries and excess capacity is eliminated. China too faces similar issues as it consolidates its industry. Most will probably lie fallow before eventually being knocked down and then turned into something following the cheapest economic path forward. With luck though, some will follow the dreams of Zedfactory and people like Ricardo Bofill and Bob Cassilly.

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