Concrete Perspectives May 2015
Internal News
BIBM Communication Commission
On 19 May, members of the BIBM Communication Commission gathered together. The new chairman Dr Ulrich Lotz kindly invited the committee to Stuttgart (Germany) and the meeting took place at FBF offices.
The meeting initiated innovative, dynamic ideas for future marketing and communication projects, such a new brochure and more active and focused communication plan.
Project overview: Reducing tests for Dangerous Substances in the precast concrete industry
In this publication, BIBM starts a new section of its newsletter, called “Project Overview” which will summarize the results of BIBM projects (of the last five years).
In this first edition, BIBM will share additional information about the project “Reducing tests for Dangerous Substances in the precast concrete industry”, which was delivered in the framework of the European Concrete Platform (ECP) by Dr Hans Van der Sloot. The project aimed at demonstrating that concrete products do not emit dangerous substances in general; therefore their use should be accepted without further testing.
Reducing tests for Dangerous Substances in the precast concrete industry – one pager
Construction Sector
Concrete Responsible Sourcing Scheme
A new draft version of the Concrete Responsible Sourcing Scheme was published on the website of the Concrete Sustainability Council.
Draft version of CRSS of 9 May 2015
EU Pave workshop
On 26 May, EUPAVE held a Workshop on Best Practices in Concrete Paving. The event gathered experts active in concrete paving and provided the opportunity to exchange best practices, as well as to discuss solutions to challenges and difficulties experienced in application.
EUPAVE has recently released its latest brochure, entitled “Durable Low-Noise Concrete Pavements”. The brochure is downloadable free of charge after registering on the website.
Precast 2015
On 21 May, The British Precast Concrete Federation (BPCF) held PRECAST 2015, UK’s biggest precast concrete event. The event attracted more than 60 exhibitors and 400 attendees.
“Connecting People for Green Skills”
The “Connecting People for Green Skills” project aims to identify bottlenecks obstructing construction sector professionals to get jobs that require new qualifications and skills. It mostly concentrates on developing technical and educational skills applied to construction in the fields of energy and environment.
For further information please visit the website of Green Skills Projects.
International Conference on Concrete Sustainability – June 2016
The second International Conference on Concrete Sustainability will be held in Madrid in June 2016.
The main topics for the conference are environmental impact reduction technologies, sustainability aspects of durability, environmental design, evaluation and systems, socio-economic aspects and case studies on sustainable concrete materials and structures.
The venue is conveniently placed at the School of Civil Engineers of Madrid, Spain (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid).
More information is available at the web page of the conference at www.iccs16.org
Live from the European Union
Roadmap and Public Consultation about Circular Economy
The European Commission published additional information about its forthcoming Circular Economy Roadmap. The paper confirms that the awaited new policy initiative will focus more about materials production and use, product design (contrary to the withdrawn waste legislation), public procurement, labelling and it will include country specific proposal for waste management. The paper is expected to tackle market failures such as lack of information for investors or consumers, split incentives across the value chain.
The long-awaited online public consultation was finally opened on 28 May. BIBM is developing an answer to the consultation (which runs until 20 August 2015) aimed at promoting the benefits of precast from the circular economy point of view.
Indicative Roadmap – Circular economy
Public Consultation – Circular economy
“Green Infrastructure: A European success story”
The conference titled “Green Infrastructure: A European success story” aimed at raising the awareness of green infrastructure, which “involves integrating our natural environment into spatial planning, bringing a multitude of benefits – from developing natural flood defences to improving air and water quality to supporting carbon storage– which help us create a more sustainable future”.
At the event, best practices were shared and the conference organisers hope that these examples will trigger “imitation” in other regions (European Macro-region: The Alps; Green infrastructure in the Ruhr region, and the Belgian region of Limburg.) The event also focused on the possible financing tools and stakeholder involvement.
It is now up to the Member States to pick up the various offered by the Commission, including the significant financial funding pots and to “complement these programmes with their own initiatives in order to encourage more private and public investment”.
The conference was co-organised by the European Commission, European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), in cooperation with the European Parliament Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity & Sustainable Development and the Urban Intergroup and held on 5 May 2015.
Green infrastructure: A European Success Storey
Europe needs to innovate by design
The “Design for Europe”, EU funded programme shows the mainstream trend in market development. The project aims to help small and medium enterprises to use design to accelerate innovation across Europe.
The initiative is linked to the British Design Council , who helps to foster innovation in business and public services, and improve the built environment.
One of the best examples is the city of Oxford who established the Oxford Design Review Panel (ODRP) in 2014 and aims at creating better places and built environment, more efficient transport system and more housing facilities, while preserving the old historic values and the green belt surrounding the city.
Case Study: Energy-Efficient Passive House using thermal mass to achieve high thermal comfort
The “Lärkträdet” project is a five-story building built in Sweden (Vara, Sweden) and was designed to achieve low energy consumption and high thermal comfort by the activate usage of thermal mass. The building envelope consists of prefabricated concrete sandwich panels and hollow core floor elements. Thermal mass perfectly controls the indoor climate by avoiding overheating. The project was also studied in a mater thesis and compared the light-weight and heavy-weight materials’ performance.
News in brief
Agenda
JUNE
1-2 June 2015
ECP Board meeting & General Assembly
Brussels, Belgium
3 June 2015
CPE CPR working group
Brussels, Belgium
9 June 2015
CPE General Assembly
Brussels, Belgium
16 June 2015
BIBM General Assembly
Leiden, Netherlands
18-19 June 2015
SAFECLADDING training session
JRC (Ispra, Italy)
23 June 2015
CPE TG CPR implementation
Brussels, Belgium
24 June 2015
NEPSI Council
Brussels, Belgium
30 June 2015
CEN/TC 229/WG 5 PCR for concrete
Brussels, Belgium
30 June 2015 – NEW DATE!
The Concrete Initiative Thematic Lunch
(*attendance upon invitation only)
Brussels, Belgium
JULY
8 July 2015
EMA meeting
Brussels, Belgium
AUGUST
24 August 2015
PCR for concrete – Editorial Panel
Brussels, Belgium
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.
To read the Quarterly Newsletter of The Concrete Initiative, please follow this link.
List of Acronyms
CPE – Construction Product Europe
CPR – Construction Products Regulation
ECP – European Concrete Platform
EMA – European Masonry Alliance
JRC – Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
PCR – Product Category Rules
TF – Task Force
AhG – Ad-hoc Group