Concrete perspectives October 2013

Construction sector

 

House prices

House prices fell by 2.2% in the euro area and by 1.3% in the EU in the second quarter of 2013 compared with the same quarter of the previous year, according to data published by Eurostat.

 

The highest annual increases in house prices in the second quarter of 2013 were recorded in Latvia (+8.8%), Estonia (+8.1%) and Luxembourg (+5.1%), and the largest falls in Croatia (-19.7%), Spain (-10.6%) and the Netherlands (-7.5%).

 

The highest quarterly increases in the second quarter of 2013 were recorded in Latvia (+5.1%), Estonia (+3.7%) and Denmark (+3.1%), and the largest falls in Croatia (-6.5%), the Netherlands (-2.0%) and Hungary (-0.9%).

 

Eurostat – house prices 2013 Q2

 

Low Carbon Economy Roadmap by CEMBUREAU

On 25 September 2013, CEMBUREAU the European Cement Association published its Roadmap to a Low-carbon economy. The Roadmap identifies five routes to achieve a low-carbon economy by 2050: resource efficiency, energy efficiency and carbon sequestration and reuse, product efficiency and downstream.

 

For further information please follow this link.

 

Precast Concrete Resource Efficiency Action Plan – UK

On 8 October 2013, BIBM British Member presented its Precast Concrete Resource Efficiency Action Plan, downloadable from this link. The publication focuses on a wide scope of Resource Efficiency and covers the main impact indicators of waste, water, carbon, materials and biodiversity.

 

Live from the European Union

Renovate Europe Campaign

On 9th October 2013, the Renovate Europe Campaign event took place. Herman Van Rompuy, the President of the Council of the European Union sent a video message in which he said that renovation and deep renovation of buildings are essential in order to reduce CO2 emissions and improve health. He added that deep renovation will stimulate innovation and estimated that it will create about 2 million direct jobs in Europe.

 

Please click here where you can watch the video message of Mr Van Rompuy.

 

First PEF World Summit

On 8-9 October 2013, the first PEF World Summit took place in Berlin, Germany. The program of the Summit included the EU Product Environmental Footprinting methodology and other worldwide updates on environmental footprinting. Michel Galatola (DG Environment) presented the EU initiative and PEF projects.

Please click on this link to watch Mr Galatola’s presentation.

For further information on PEF World Summit, please follow this link.

 

EU Access to Finance Days – helping to shape an SME-friendly financing market

The European Commission will launch a new programme, Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs (COSME) which will provide €3.5 billion of additional funding annually for SMEs for the period 2014-2020.

 

COSME is the first ever European Commission programme that is exclusively dedicated to supporting SMEs.

 

To learn more abour the COSME project, please follow this link.

 

Action Plan to make Europe’s cities smarter

On 14 October 2013, the second High Level Group of the European Innovation Partnership for Smart Cities and Communities was held. The High Level Group adopted the Partnership’s ‘Strategic Implementation Plan’ (SIP). The plan will help the establishment of Smart City solutions in Europe. The plan is tackle three specific areas: sustainable districts, sustainable urban mobility, and integrated infrastructures across energy, ICT and transport.

 

The European Commission is expected to provide around €200m to create Smart Cities in the next two years.

 

Next steps:

The European Innovation Partnership will launch an open call for “Smart City and Community Commitments” at the beginning of 2014.

 

For further information, please click on this link.

News in brief

National award winner projects

 

Bedriye Tiryaki Mencik Mosque – Manisa, Turkey

The precast concrete mosque won the Best Practice Award in building category for the year 2009-2011.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best Practice Award 2013 -UK

 

In the United Kingdom, the Best Practice Award 2013 was organized in several categories. In this edition, we present the Innovation Award won by Buchan Concrete Solutions.

AGENDA

 

 

 

 

To the Newsletter of Construction Products Europe (former CEPMC), please follow this link.

 

To read the Newsletter of CEMBUREAU, please follow this link. You can also subscribe directly following this link http://www.cembureau.eu/newsletter/subscriptions.