France: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Lafarge France says that it will continue to provide its regular service to customers as operations continue into a second national coronavirus lockdown in 2020. This was made possible by the government’s decision to permit the continuation of construction and industrial activities, according to the company.

It said, “The company has learned a lot since the containment last spring and is prepared to guarantee the best possible service for all of its markets, even under the specific conditions linked to the acceleration of the Covid-19 epidemic. All activities - cements, concretes and aggregates - will therefore operate normally throughout the country.” It added, “All our sites are now showing sufficient stock levels to deal calmly with the coming months.”

Spain: HeidelbergCement subsidiary FYM has partnered with the University of Malaga (UMA) to create a chair on climate change at the institution. The position aims “to create and promote the study, research and development of new solutions to the climate emergency and its consequences for nature and daily life.” The company said that this consists in: “deepening the knowledge of the causes and consequences of climate change in Malaga Province, investigating the possibilities of its mitigation, especially through circular economic processes, encouraging research, development and innovation within the different lines of action in the fight against climate change, setting and substantiating industry targets and promoting understanding of the effects of climate change and the different forms of mitigation and adaptation.”

France: Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim and Netherlands-based Witteveen + Bos have launched the 3D Printing Hackathon, an event in which engineering, architecture, and materials science students will compete to develop a new product leveraging 3D concrete printing technology to solve major problems in construction.

LafargeHolcim will supply concrete and provide technical mentorship to contestants. The company said that, while construction accounts for 40% of global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, 1.6bn people are altogether without adequate housing. “Building more with less accelerates the speed of construction and reduces a building’s footprint. Leading the way in green building solutions, LafargeHolcim is actively deploying 3D printing towards addressing these challenges.” Research and development head Edelio Bermejo added, “We need to join forces to make this ground-breaking technology a reality. Join us on this exciting adventure!”

The group is offering a prize pool of Euro15,000 and operational support for full-scale implementation of the winning 3D printing solution.

Germany: HeidelbergCement recorded net sales of Euro13.1bn over the first nine months of 2020, down by 8% year-on-year from Euro14.3bn over the corresponding period of 2019. Sales fell in most regions during the nine month period but rose in Africa-Eastern Mediterranean by 4% to Euro1.31bn from Euro1.26bn. Group cement volumes totalled 17.9Mt, down by 2% from 18.3Mt, while concrete volumes fell by 12% to 4.40Mt from 5.00Mt.

Speaking of the third quarter of 2020, chair Dominik von Achten said, “HeidelbergCement has achieved an excellent result. In an environment that continues to be characterised by major regional differences and great uncertainty, we were able to increase earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) by 17% in comparison to the third quarter of 2019.“ He added that the group expected earnings to grow in 2020 compared to 2019.