Concrete perspectives March 2014

Construction sector

 

BPCF and MPA strengthen their cooperation

On 28 February 2014, British Precast Concrete Association and the Mineral Product Association strengthen their cooperation by signing a service level agreement. According to the agreement, MPA will provide a wide range of management, administration and technical services to British Precast.

 

For further information, please read the official Press Release.

 

Fire Safe Europe appoints new Managing Director

On 5 March, Fire Safe Europe appointed Juliette Albiac, the new Managing Director who replaces Bill Duncan who has been working 3 years to raise the awareness of the importance of fire safety of buildings. Juliette Albiac will continue the FireSafetyFirst campaign which was launched in January 2014 in the European Parliament and more than 25 MEP welcomed the campaign.

 

For further information, please read the Press Release published recently.

 

Live from the European Union

 

Commission issues roadmap to meet the long-term financing needs of the European economy

On 27 March, the European Commission adopted a set of measures to channel funds to the real economy, in particular to long-term investment. The package includes a communication on the long-term financing of the economy, a legislative proposal for new rules for occupational pension funds and a communication on crowd-funding.

 

Under the Europe 2020 strategy and Europe climate and energy package 2030, long-term investments are need in the field of infrastructure, innovation and human capital.

 

The Communication unveils two actions:

• proposal to revise the rules for occupational pension funds
• communication on crowd-funding to offer alternative financing options for SMEs

 

For further information, please follow this link to the official Press Release of the European Commission.

 

The Parliament Magazine’s MEP Award

On 18 March 2014, The Parliament Magazine’s MEP Award ceremony took place. The Awards are based on the votes of fellow MEPs and also on other stakeholders’ opinions.

 

In order to increase the construction manufacturer sectors visibility within the European Parliament, Construction Products Europe has decided to sponsor the 2014 MEP Awards and created the award for ‘Sustainable Built Environment’. The winner in this category was Jan Olbrycht (European People’s Party, Poland) who has been deeply involved in urban and regional politics throughout his career and he participated in the works on European innovation partnership in smart cities and the European regional development fund projects on affordable housing and energy efficiency.

 

As for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection category, British MEP Malcolm Harbour won (ECR) who is the chair of the Parliament’s Committee on Internal Market. He has been in the European Parliament since 1999 and has been a driving force in improving the functioning of the single market.

 

In the Energy category, Belgian MEP Anne Delvaux (EPP) won who was the co-rapporteur on the own-initiative report on the 2030 climate and energy package of the EU.

 

In the Environment category, British deputy Chris Davies (ALDE) won who has been involved in the conservation of fish stocks and the use of carbon capture and storage.

 

For further information on other categories, please follow the link to the official website of the MEP Award.

 

CEN and CENELEC engage with stakeholders for standardisation

On 21 March, The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENLEC) launched an online toolbox in order to help to get involved the widest possible range of stakeholders in standardization activities and facilitate to shape the content of European Standards.

For further information, please refer to the official Press Release here.

 

 

News in brief

National Award Winner project

Outstanding precast – Belgium

 

FEBE, the Belgian Precast Concrete Association held its Award ceremony in November 2013. The categories “Precast in infrastructure” and “Precast in building” have been already presented in the BIBM Newsletter. In this edition, we will present the “Outstanding precast” category which is usually a project or idea where precast concrete has a remarkable role from either aesthetic or innovative point of view.

 

The renovation project of a residential building won the outstanding precast category, situated in Brussels. The building was built in 1959 and the renovation project started in 2013 including the renovation of the facade.

Agenda