Concrete Perspectives March 2018
Construction Sector
- NEPSI reporting
On 15 March 2018, the reporting of respirable crystalline silica at work places ended for the year 2018.
This is the fourth time in a row that the coverage of the precast industry increased through the BIBM membership, sign of an increasing commitment of our sector to provide healthy and safe workplaces.
The application of the NEPSI good practices guide and monitoring will help precasters to comply with the upcoming implementation of the “carcinogens and Mutagens at workplace directive”, due to be in place in the next two years.
- Public consultations
Recently there were several public consultations opened that relevant for the precast concrete sector. Amongst others, BIBM is preparing an answer to the public consultations on the evaluation and possible revision of the Outdoor Directive, Definition of SMEs. Feedback is also open for the Roadmap on Alignment of environmental reporting obligations.
Live from the European Union
REACH Report
On 5 March, the European Commission published the REACH review. The review shows that thanks to the Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) EU companies and authorities are ensuring the safe use of chemicals and the phase-out of dangerous substances.
For better protecting of consumers, workers and the environment, the European Commission proposes a number of concrete actions to improve the implementation of REACH. These measures are put forward to improve the quality of registration dossiers submitted by the companies, to simplify the overall authorisation process and to ensure a level playing field between the EU and non-EU companies. The Commission wants to further support SMEs in their compliance and enhance enforcement by national authorities.
The Commission will discuss the outcomes and follow-up actions of the second REACH review with the European Parliament, Member States and stakeholders at a public conference, planned for June 2018.
Commission announces next steps for Fire Information Exchange Platform (FIEP)
The European Commission announced more information on the functioning of FIEP. Two annual meetings are planned, and the Commission is currently looking into:
- priorities and organization of the work (secretariat, etc.),
- possible contribution from other Commission services,
- creation of specific Project Teams to prepare proposals for the FIEP Plenary,
- planning further FIEP Plenary meetings (2 per year).
For further information please find here the full presentation.
Furthermore, the common areas of work were updated as well:
common terminology and fire statistics, the application of fire prevention principles, dealing with new products (e.g. integrated photovoltaic panels) and high-rise buildings, the exchange of experience from fire accidents, the use of a fire engineering approach in building regulations
National Award Winner Project
Margretheholmen (Copenhagen, Denmark), delivered by CRH Concrete A/S
Udsigten at Margretheholmen is located in Copenhagen and is owned by PKA and TopDanmark. The property was built in 2015 and consists of 456 apartments and a parking garage, distributed over a total area of 45,228 sq.m. Udsigten is an eight-storey building with shared facilities.
Udsigten’s façades are a combination of brick and concrete elements with large balconies, most of which offer an excellent view of the Copenhagen skyline.[1]
[1] Source: https://deasgroup.com/cases/udsigten-margretheholmen
The property is Denmark’s longest residential construction, located at a maritime area converted into residential area.
The building is the result of an architectural competition from 2003. The view is a 550m long block of 8 floors, which is visually broken down by a series of breaks.
The massive volume is pierced by strategically placed gates with access to an open area on the Eastern side. The buildings are located on the border of the large industrial area, and the upper floors offer panoramic views of both Øresund and Copenhagen city center.
The façade is decorated with shutters: on the Western side, there are removable shutters to shield the sun and wind, while on the Eastern side hinged shutters were applied with a sound-insolation function. The basic structure of the house is made of concrete, with facades of sandwich elements with different finishes.[1]
[1] Source and for further pictures: https://www.arkitekturbilleder.dk/bygning/margretheholm-udsigten/
News in brief
Agenda
APRIL
17 April 2018
Communication Commission
Brussels, Belgium
23-25 April 2018
PEF Workshop
Brussels, Belgium
26-27 April 2018
CEN/TC 104/TG 20
Paris, France
MAY
2 May 2018
BIBM Technical Commission
Brussels, Belgium
3 May 2018
CPR review – Technical Platform
Brussels, Belgium
15 May 2018
BIBM Board meeting
Brussels, Belgium
23 May 2018
Workshop on decarbonisation of the cement sector
Brussels, Belgium
24 May 2018
Research projects – Green Week Workshop
Brussels, Belgium
24-25 May 2018
CEN/TC 229
Stockholm, Sweden
28 May
BIBM Environment Commission
Confcall (tbc)
JUNE
5 June 2018
Fire Safe Europe meeting
Brussels, Belgium
6 June 2018
Marketers Conference – Concrete Initiative
Oslo, Norway
7 June 2018
CPE General Assembly
Brussels, Belgium
11-12 June 2018
BIBM General Assembly
Vienna, Austria
18 June 2018
NEPSI Council
Brussels, Belgium
18 June 2018
NEPSI Council
Brussels, Belgium
19 June 2018
CPE – CPR implementation
Brussels, Belgium
To the Newsletter of Construction Products Europe please follow this link.
FIEC’s January Newsletter is available at 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
CSC – Concrete Sustainability Council
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