Displaying items by tag: infrastructure

UK: Civil engineering joint venture Balfour Beatty Vinci has poured 1Mm³ of concrete in its on-going erection of structures for West Midlands sections of the HS2 Birmingham-London railway. Aggregate Industries, Cemex UK and Tarmac all supplied concrete for the works. Aggregate Industries’ concrete features in the Delta Junction interchange between HS2’s lines to Birmingham, London and Interchange Station in Solihull, outside Birmingham. The junction includes 13 viaducts across the valleys of the River Cole and River Tame. Meanwhile, Cemex UK’s concrete features in structures in Birmingham and Staffordshire and Tarmac’s concrete in structures in Birmingham and Warwickshire.

Altogether, HS2 railway structures in the West Midlands will require 1.9Mm3 of concrete, over 50% that of the entire project total, over a 90km stretch. 11 ready-mix batching plants serve the stretch, two of which are semi-battery-powered. Balfour Beatty Vinci and its suppliers have also made use of electric concrete mixer trucks for deliveries. They crossed the 1Mm³ milestone while building the 165m-long, four-track Chattle Hill railway bridge over the A446 road in Delta Junction. The bridge will use 10,200m³ of concrete.

Algeria: China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) and Cosider Travaux Publics have commissioned a new concrete railway sleeper plant in Tindouf. The Global Times newspaper has reported that the plant will supply the upcoming 575km-long Western Algeria Railway Mining Line project. The railway will conform to local European-based standards, while incorporating Chinese heavy-haul systems and materials.

General manager Xu Huaxiang said "This sleeper factory is the first standardised concrete sleeper plant built by a Chinese company in the Sahara."

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.

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."

Saudi Arabia: Al Kifah Ready Mix & Blocks has updated the market on its achievements in the sustainable concrete space in Saudi Arabia. The producer’s mixes include slag-based aggregates, as well as natural pozzolans and CO₂ injected using equipment developed by Canada-based CarbonCure. Gulf Construction News has reported that the company's range of ultra-low CO₂ ConGreen concrete products and BloGreen concrete blocks have supported projects including the Aramco Stadium project in Al Khobar, Qiddiya amusement park in Riyadh and King Salman Global Maritime Industries Complex in Jubail.

General Manager Nigel Harries said "Al Kifah Ready Mix & Blocks’ products have been widely adopted in mega and giga projects across the kingdom and have proved their high performance, thus strengthening the company’s position in the Saudi market. Al Kifah’s green solutions have unique properties that facilitate tasks on the job site through their better workability and finishability. They can be considered an all-in-one solution, offering zero wastage, zero mobilisation time, lower emissions and a smart way for supplying concrete in remote areas."

Australia: The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government has pledged to use low carbon concrete in all future government construction projects, where appropriate, reports Mirage News. This commitment is part of the 'Low carbon concrete policy', designed to cut emissions without significantly raising project costs. The implementation of this policy will begin on 1 January 2025 and will require that designers, engineers and builders provide options for using low carbon concrete options in government projects. This initiative is part of the broader 10-year ACT Sustainable Building Pathway, which aims to embed sustainable practices throughout the building lifecycle.

Minister for Water, Energy and Emissions Reduction, Shane Rattenbury said "Using low carbon concrete is a simple and effective way we can reduce these emissions while supporting local industry. Already in Canberra, we have started using low carbon concrete in significant projects like the new Canberra Hospital expansion and in preparation for Light Rail Stage 2A. This is a fantastic example of how seamlessly low carbon concrete can be integrated into our everyday building projects.”

Saudi Arabia: Al-Kifah Precast says that it is preparing to expand into other Middle Eastern countries, having more than tripled its sales since 2020. CEO Ehab Abu Salim says that the producer was a strategic supplier of precast concrete for Red Sea Global’s Red Sea Project in Tabuk Province, and now aims to support other major projects like the Neom new city and Amaala resort, also in Tabuk Province. Gulf Construction News has reported that the company has invested in research and development to establish best practices, as in its partnership with a UK-based company to produce marine concrete elements. It has reduced its CO₂ emissions through the use of alternative materials such as fibreglass, steel rebar and pozzolans.

Abu Salim said “Having a facility in the Red Sea Project was a strategic move. The plant produces all types of precast elements and we are also looking to improve the facility. We have an expansion planned; very soon it will be serving the entire region." He added “Precast technology helps to speed up projects, is more sustainable, offers higher quality, and the price is on par and sometimes even lower than using traditional construction solutions.”

US: Martin Marietta Materials has signed a deal to buy 20 aggregates operations in the Southeast US from Blue Water Industries for US$2.05bn. Reuters has reported that the partners expect to close the deal later in 2024. Martin Marietta Materials says that the acquisitions will help it to meet rising national demand for building materials. The North Carolina-based group operates aggregates sites in 28 US states, Canada and the Bahamas.

Martin Marietta Materials previously indicated that recent divestitures in its ready-mix concrete business and other areas would help it to ‘redeploy the proceeds into pure-play aggregates acquisitions.’

Mexico: Cemex is supplying Vertua lower-CO₂ concrete for the construction of Terminal 2 at Puerto Vallarta’s International Airport, which aims to be one of the most sustainable terminal buildings in Latin America. The 68,000m² new terminal will be one of the most efficient in terms of sustainability, with the aim of obtaining LEED certification and minimising the CO₂ emissions associated with the construction process. Cemex will contribute more than 85,000m³ of Vertua concrete, which will avoid the emission of 16,000t of CO₂ compared to traditional concretes.

Mexico: Holcim Mexico says that its supply of cement to the government’s Tren Maya railway project is 170,000t/month. This corresponds to 50 – 60% of its total production volumes. Local press has reported that construction of the 1500km-long Tren Maya railway will consume 1Mm³ of concrete. Holcim supplied its cement for Sections 1 – 3 of the line between 2020 and 2022. It is currently supplying Section 5, which is 50% complete. The cement comes from the company’s Orizaba, Veracruz, plant; its Macuspana, Tabasco, plant and its Mérida, Yucatán, plant.

Holcim Mexico’s infrastructure development manager Fernando Roldan said "Our participation has been a challenge, but the relationship we have with the suppliers and with the construction companies in charge of the railway has allowed us to meet the requirements."