Concrete Perspectives June 2016
Internal News
Please note that the next edition of the BIBM Newsletter will be out at the end of August (July-August edition).
On 6-7 June BIBM held its General Assembly in Birmingham, UK. The British Precast Concrete Federation kindly hosted the meeting and organised a one day social programme for the BIBM Members.
Construction Sector
- CEMBUREAU’s 2015 Activity Report can be downloaded here.
- Construction Products Europe’s Annual Activity Report can be downloaded from here.
European Investment Bank’s Lunch Dialogue event on EU Urban Agenda
On 15 June, the European Investment Bank (EIB) held a lunch event on the EU Urban Agenda. The EIB is engaged in project for a better EU Urban Agenda and aims at providing better urban financing and supporting urban investments.
The EU Urban Agenda consists of several issues such as:
- Inclusive cities (urban poverty, housing, inclusion of migrants and refugees etc.)
- Green Cities (circular economy, energy transition etc.)
- Smart cities (urban mobility, air quality etc.)
There are various financial tools to find the best supportive action for specific investment projects for small or big cities, infrastructure or urban development projects.
The so-called Ginkgo fund (EUR 120m) was presented which invests in contaminated former industrial sites and remediate sites and sells the upgraded property for further real estate development.
Some interesting EIB projects for urban agenda partnerships were also presented such as Affordable Housing in Poland, Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees, Urban Poverty (Royal Liverpool Hospital) and Air Quality in Milan.
NEPSI 10 year Anniversary
On 16 June 2016, NEPSI Conference took place in Brussels to mark the achievements of the NEPSI Agreement ten years after its signature.
At the end of the Conference, the NEPSI signatories signed a Joint Declaration confirming their desire to continue working together for enhanced workers’ health protection.
For more details please visit: http://www.nepsi.eu/news/nepsi-10th-anniversary-conference
European Builders Confederation’s position paper on SME-friendly BIM[1]
On 23 June, the European Builders Confederation approved its position paper on SME-friendly BIM.
EBC acknowledges that the development of BIM is advancing rapidly and highlights concrete and specific needs for its favourable implementation in Europe:
- Addressing the needs and expectations of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in how to design a European standardised approach to BIM
- Promoting the adoption of BIM to facilitate higher energy efficiency and lower life-cycle costs of buildings
- Promoting BIM training programmes that are not based on the use of a specific software, but are rather targeted to guide all construction professionals towards the digital transition of the construction sector
- Ensuring the soft-landing of public procurements changes with regard to the transition from traditional methods to BIM-based ones
Read the position paper of EBC on BIM.
Live from the European Union
European Commission to modernise EU’s Standardisation Policy
On 1 June 2016, the European Commission presented its package on how to modernise EU’s standardisation policy. The Commission aimed at creating a single and coherent EU standardisation policy where the priorities are regularly discussed with the European Parliament and the Member States.
Picture: @ConstructionEU
The package includes a Commission decision providing the framework for the Joint Initiative on Standardisation (JIS), which was formally launched by all partners on 13 June.
Picture: @ConstructionEU
Christophe Sykes – CPE, Riccardo Viaggi-EBC, Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska and Ulrich Paetzold – FIEC
The JIS bring together European and national standardisation organisations and bodies, industry, SMEs, consumer associations, trade unions, environmental organisations, Member States and the Commission. Their mission is to modernise, prioritise, and speed up the timely delivery of standards by the end of 2019.
BIBM as member of Construction Products Europe is part of the initiative, who signed it together with the European Builders Federation and FIEC (European Construction Industry Federation).
Press Release of the construction industry and material producers
European Commission – Press Release
News in brief
Agenda
JULY
5 July 2016
EMA meeting
Brussels, Belgium
6 July 2016
CPE – Sustainability working group
Brussels, Belgium
14 July 2016
CEN/BT SRAHG Precast concrete
Web-conference
15 July 2016
CEN/BT SRAHG Balustrades
Web-conference
AUGUST
30 August 2016
BIBM Wastewater engineering group
Brussels, Belgium
SEPTEMBER
8 September 2016
CPE TG CPR implementation
Brussels, Belgium
13 September 2016
BIBM Technical Commission
Brussels, Belgium
14 September 2016
CEN/TC 229/WG 1 and WG 4
Brussels, Belgium
20 September 2016
CEN/TC 104/TG 20
Stockholm, Sweden
20 September 2016
Fire Safe Europe Task Force
Brussels, Belgium
28 September 2016 (tbc)
BIBM Board
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:
AhG – Ad-hoc Group
CPE – Construction Product Europe
DG GROW – Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
ECP – European Concrete Platform
EMA – European Masonry Alliance
IPHA – International Pre-stressed Hollowcore Association
TF – Task Force