Concrete Perspectives October – November 2021
BIBM Congress 2021 in Copenhagen
BIBM held a successful Congress in Copenhagen. After a delay of one and a half years caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the 23rd BIBM Congress took place in Copenhagen from 14 to 16 November 2021. About 350 people from across Europe attended the event and convened in the Tivoli Congress Center under the Covid-19 guidelines and regulations applicable in Denmark. The technical program focused on building with precast elements in the Nordic countries. Accordingly, the congress was held under the heading “The Future of European Construction – Precast Excellence in Nordic Countries”. In addition to best-practice examples from these countries, the agenda addressed megatrends such as digitization, the circular economy and decarbonization. Also, the printed version of the “Little Green Book of Concrete”, which presents many benefits of precast in a compact format, was distributed to the public for the first time at the Congress.
The next BIBM Congress will take place in 2023. The location will be announced in spring 2022.
Read the full report here. BIBM Congress Post Show Report will also be included in the January edition of the BFT International magazine.
BIBM has now uploaded all presentations the permission was given for, the exhibitor list and the programme on the BIBM homepage. Soon will follow a gallery with impressions of the congress.
BIBM would like to thank all the participants who joined us in Copenhagen and for making this event a success. See you again in 2023!
1. CONCRETE NEWS
British Precast – Precast Week 2021
This year’s British Precast Week was structured around topics covered in the Little Green Book of Concrete. Running across the five days (15-19 November), precast manufacturers, supply chain partners and industry experts highlighted the innovations and strategies set to deliver sustainable construction using precast concrete. Each day was themed around a different chapter in the Little Green Book with topics including Decarbonisation, Adaptation to Change, Precast Concrete in the Future, Achieving Green Building with Precast and Regional Circular Economy.
The UK Version of the Little Green Book of Concrete 2021 was officially launched during Precast Week and is now available for download here.
75th anniversary of VBF Nord
On November 5, our German member association VBF Nord celebrated its 75th anniversary in the Old Town Hall of Hanover. The ceremony started with the welcome speech by Dr. Eike Bielak – President of VBF Nord, and Jörg Bode, former Minister for Economics, Labour and Transport and Deputy Prime Minister of the state of Lower Saxony, followed by the inspiring ceremonial lecture of Martin Kind from the KIND Group.
Funded in March 1946, VBF Nord today includes the area of the five northern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein.
BIBM would like to congratulate VBF Nord on this big occasion and wishing lots of prosperity and success in future activities.
BetonTage 2022 – new venue
After the first-ever virtual event held successfully in 2021, the BetonTage 2022 will take place physically in a new venue. From 22 to 24 February 2022, the complete program of this long-standing, leading convention of the concrete and precast industry will be held at the Maritim Hotel Congress Centrum in Ulm. Be it the presentations, the evening get-together, the exhibition of the supplier industry or the FAIRbinden industry gathering: from 2022, all these parts of the program will take place at a single venue. The 66th BetonTage will be a face-to-face event while also offering live video streaming of some panels.
(Source: BFT International)
For more information, please visit www.betontage.de.
2. BIBM NEWS
New BIBM Technical Commission Chair
On November 15, during the BIBM General Assembly in Copenhagen, Taco van den Broek was appointed to the position of the Chairman of the BIBM Technical Commission, replacing our former Danish colleague Pernille Nygaard. We wish him great success in his new position and look forward to further beneficial collaboration with BIBM.
Taco van den Broek (57, Master of science civil engineer/structural engineer TU Delft): “I worked as project manager for the steel industry for construction works. After 15 years I changed to standardization work at NEN and CEN. In these 12 years as standardization consultant I supported the Dutch concrete industry with almost all the standardization about concrete, sustainability and CPR. Since 2017 I am the successor of Willem Welling at the Dutch precast association. My personal aim is to help people in the building industry with their technical and legal problems. Besides this: my family and judo are an important part of my life”.
Public consultation and feedback
Microplastics pollution – measures to reduce its impact on the environment
This initiative aims to tackle microplastics unintentionally released into the environment. It will focus on labelling, standardisation, certification and regulatory measures for the main sources of these plastics.
Feedback deadline: 28 December
Digitalising the energy sector – EU action plan
Digital technologies can unleash the full potential of flexible energy generation and consumption in different sectors and enable more use of renewable energy.
This action plan will help develop a competitive market for digital energy services and digital energy infrastructure that are cyber-secure, efficient and sustainable.
It will support energy system integration, participation of ‘prosumers’ in the energy transition and ensure interoperability of energy data, platforms and services.
Public consultation deadline: 24 January 2022
3. BIBM AGENDA
| DECEMBER 2021 | JANUARY 2022 | FEBRUARY 2022 |
| 06/12: DG GROW CPR Acquis meeting Confcall | 11/01: CEN/TC 350 Sustainability WG 1 – Building level Confcall | 03/02: DG GROW CPR Acquis meeting Confcall |
| 09/12: NEPSI Employers Meeting Confcall | 13/01: CEN/TC 350 Sustainability WG 3 – Product level | 08/02: BIBM Wastewater Engineering Group Confcall |
| 10/12: BIBM Environment Commission Confcall | 18/01: BIBM Board Confcall | |
| 15/12: Construction Products Europe CPR + Sustainability WG Confcall | 21/01: The Concrete Initiative Confcall | |
| 16/12: CEN/TC 104 Concrete WG 19 – Decarbonisation & Sustainability Confcall | 25/01: BIBM Communication Commission Confcall | |
| 22/12: CEN/TC 229 Precast WG 1 – Structural precast Confcall | 27/01: CEN/TC 229 Precast WG 5 – Product category rules Confcall |
4. WEBINARS / ONLINE EVENTS
| DATE | ORGANISER | INFORMATION |
| 13 December | The Concrete Centre | Circular economy: strategies for concrete buildings |
| 14 December | Construction News | How to maximise what you get from construction frameworks |
| 16 December | DAI | Integrated Approaches to Development Finance for Building Back Better |
| 16 December | European Commission | Smart Readiness Indicator platform launch event |
| 17 December | EIT | Boosting the EU Circular Economy transition through collaboration |
5. BIBM PARTNERS NEWS
The GCCA 2050 Roadmap for Net Zero Concrete launched
On 12 October, GCCA launched its Concrete Future – the collective commitment and roadmap towards achieving a decarbonised industry and net zero concrete for the world. The 2050 Net Zero Roadmap sets out in detail how collectively, in collaboration with built environment stakeholders and policymakers, GCCA will fully decarbonise the cement and concrete industry. The roadmap is built around a seven-point plan that relies on ambitious yet achievable actions to reduce the amount of CO2 intensive clinker in cement, significantly reduce fossil fuel use in manufacturing, and accelerate innovation in products, process efficiency and breakthrough technologies including carbon capture.
As Thomas Guillot, new GCCA Chief Executive, said: “We now need governments around the world to work with us […] to advocate for low carbon concrete in their infrastructure and housing needs.”
More information can be found here.
CPE key messages on the future EU construction roadmap
The EC aims to release the construction roadmap next year. In this context, Construction Products Europe created an interactive diagram highlighting the key elements that should be included in the forthcoming roadmap. Also, CPE has recently published its report on “industrial ecosystems” and “transition pathways” that can be found here.
CPE believes that the built environment must be envisaged as a whole, whilst EU regulatory provisions and incentives must be based on a scientifically accepted assessment methodology. Lastly, the EU construction value-chain needs a coherent and overarching European strategy that foresees the following key principles:
1) Defining clear targets that are validated at all levels of decision-making;
2) Carrying out sustainability performance assessments at building level;
3) Using Level(s), the EU sustainable buildings framework, as the reference methodology;
4) Improving the secondary materials market to enhance circularity in construction;
5) Using digital technologies as supporting tool.
Watch the CPE’s video about the construction ecosystem here.
6. LIVE FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION
Launch of the High Level Construction Forum
On September 28, the European Commission held an online meeting of the re-launched High Level Construction Forum (HLCF). The objective was to discuss and prepare the co-drafting of the EU Construction roadmap that will be organised in the coming months. The debate was centered around the green and digital transformation of the construction industry. After the launch, three construction cluster groups (Digital, Resilient, and Green) took place on 19th, 20th, and 22nd October respectively. Cluster group meeting raports are available here.
COP26 – key outcomes
COP26 (31 October – 12 November) in Glasgow marked a step forward in global efforts to address climate change, including a material increase in ambitions to reduce emissions across the world, finalisation of rules on reporting emissions and international carbon trading, and the launch of a range of new initiatives and sector deals. A new (not legally-binding) global agreement – the Glasgow Climate Pact – was reached at the COP26 summit. The agreement will set the global agenda on climate change for the next decade.
Some key outcomes:
- COP 26 passed rules to establish a global carbon market and to facilitate bilateral carbon trading;
- Parties have agreed to revisit their climate pledges – or nationally determined contributions (NDCs) at COP27;
- Countries agreed to phase down ‘inefficient’ fossil fuel subsidies;
- Leaders from more than 100 countries – with about 85% of the world’s forests – promised to stop deforestation by 2030.
Level(s): reshaping sustainability practices in the built environment
The event, organised by the European Commission, introduced a new suite of tools to help a variety of professionals use the Level(s) framework to ensure that action taken on individual buildings makes a measurable impact on critical issues such as climate change, circular economy, climate adaptation, and health. Furthermore, speakers discussed how Level(s) is having an impact on EU and national legislation, provided examples of how the indicators have been used in building projects as well as how national certification schemes align with the framework.
Join the Level(s) LinkedIn group to stay up-to-date with the developments of Level(s) and relevant initiatives for sustainable buildings. You can also find the video recording of the webinar here.
7. OUTSTANDING PRECAST CONCRETE PROJECTS
FEBE Elements Awards 2021 – winners
On Thursday, November 25, FEBE awarded the most outstanding precast concrete projects of the past year from Belgium. The winners in five categories are:
[Source: https://febeawards.be/]