Displaying items by tag: Heidelberg Materials
Germany: Heidelberg Materials has launched EvoBuild, a new brand for its range of low-carbon and circular products. It intends to apply globally consistent criteria and tiering for its sustainable products and aims to set new standards for decarbonised products. All countries in which the company is present will gradually integrate their sustainable products into the EvoBuild portfolio.
Dominik von Achten, chair of the managing board of Heidelberg Materials, said “After rolling out our new corporate brand Heidelberg Materials in more than 20 countries, harmonising our strong sustainable product portfolio on a global level is the next logical and important step.” He continued, “We recently introduced our EvoZero brand for the world’s first carbon captured net-zero cement. Now, we are adding EvoBuild to the Evo brand family with a new framework for all products that are characterised by their special contribution to carbon reduction and circularity. This also reflects the strong focus of our business activities on sustainable solutions for our customers.” Nicola Kimm, the chief sustainability officer at Heidelberg Materials added that creating the brand was, “an important step towards achieving one of our key targets on the way to net zero as we aim to generate 50% of our revenue with sustainable products by 2030.”
Products in the EvoBuild range will be available in all business lines and are either low-carbon (cement and concrete), circular (concrete) or feature a combination of both attributes. Low-carbon products must provide a CO₂ reduction of at least 30% compared to the reference value. Circular products must contain at least 30% recycled aggregates, or they must reduce material requirements by at least 30%.
Germany: Heidelberg Materials will stop producing clinker at its 700,000t/yr Hanover cement plant in Lower Saxony later in 2024, and transition the plant to grinding-only. The producer took the decision following a ‘significant drop’ in its cement sales, amid local low construction activity and a market shift towards lower-cement materials. Nonetheless, it intend to raise its capacity utilisation at its 1Mt/yr Ennigerloh, 900,000t/yr Geseke and 400,000t/yr Paderborn cement plants in neighbouring North Rhine-Westphalia. These will supply clinker to the Hanover grinding plant in future. Heidelberg Materials says that the plant's strategic location will ensure its continued importance in regional cement supply. Part of the 120-strong workforce at the Hanover plant will remain at the new grinding plant. The company will collaborate with the works council to find ‘acceptable solutions’ for the remainder of the team, possibly including intra-group transfers to other divisions and locations.
The Calix consortium’s on-going LEILAC 2 carbon capture project will now move from the Hanover plant to another Heidelberg Materials plant. Australia-based Calix is collaborating with Heidelberg Materials to identify a suitable new site as quickly as possible.
Göktuğ Aktaş appointed as Director - Africa, Mediterranean and West Asia at Heidelberg Materials
24 January 2024Germany: Heidelberg Materials has appointed Göktuğ Aktaş as its Director - Africa, Mediterranean and West Asia. He previously worked as the Performance Manager (Northern and Eastern Europe-Central Asia) for the group from late 2018. Prior to this he worked for Türkiye-based Akçansa from 2011 in quality management roles becoming Country Production and Quality Manager (RMC & Aggregates) in 2017. Aktaş is a graduate in science and civil engineering from the Istanbul Technical University and the University of Buffalo in the US. He also holds an administration in business administration (MBA) qualification from Istanbul University.
Aker Carbon Capture and MAN Energy Solutions partner for North American CCUS deployment
23 January 2024North America: Aker Carbon Capture and MAN Energy Solutions have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) and CO2 compression opportunities in North America. The collaboration will combine Aker Carbon Capture's amine capture technology with MAN Energy Solutions’ compressor technology to provide standardised and modularised solutions, with optimised energy consumption and delivery time. Both parties are currently participating in the Brevik capture and storage project with Heidelberg Materials Northern Europe in Norway. Rystad Energy has forecast potential capture capacity across North American industries of 200Mt/yr by 2030.
Aker Carbon Capture head of North America Jonah Margulis said "This agreement will strengthen our position to remove and reduce carbon emissions from industries and energy solutions, which is supported by strong incentives from the US government."
MAN Energy Solutions head of sales and project management, carbon capture and storage, Marco Ernst said "We are delighted to work with Aker Carbon Capture, which appreciates our comprehensive expertise in compressor solutions in general and in the area of CO2 compression in particular. We feel encouraged by the high level of interest in our technical solution concepts that we are on the right path towards sustainable decarbonisation of the industries that have previously had particularly high emissions."
Heidelberg Materials UK achieves updated BES 6001 standard
22 January 2024UK: Heidelberg Materials UK has received certification to the revised BES 6001 standard across its entire business. The Framework Standard for Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products, version 4.0:2023, emphasises sustainable procurement and supply chain engagement, alongside environmental aspects such as biodiversity. It covers products including cement, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and concrete. The producer says that this will help it to secure additional green building certification schemes credits.
Sustainability director Marian Garfield said "We are delighted to have been awarded the 'excellent' level of certification by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), which demonstrates our commitment to sustainability and supporting our customers in our shared net zero ambitions."
Heidelberg Materials sells French cement transport business
11 January 2024France: Heidelberg Materials has completed its divestment of its French cement transport business, Tratel, to multiple local players. Tratel controls 450 trucks and around 770 trailers across France. Groupe Garnier has taken it over in the north western and Île-de-France, e-b-trans in south eastern and south western France, Groupe DESERT in western France and T2GL in eastern France, while Heidelberg Materials France continues to manage order intake, chartering and dispatch activities. Heidelberg Materials says that the move advances its portfolio optimisation strategy, which involves increasing its focus on core businesses.
Severin Weig appointed as head of Ciments du Maroc
10 January 2024Morocco: Ciments du Maroc has appointed Severin Weig as its chief executive officer with effect from 1 February 2024. He will succeed Matteo Rozzanigo in the post, who will become the president of the Northeast-North America Region of Heidelberg Materials Group.
Weig joined Heidelberg Materials in 2012 and has held various corporate treasury roles in Germany before becoming the group’s Director of Treasury, Insurance and Corporate Risk within its German organisation. He was also appointed as a member of the Advisory Council on Sustainable Finance of the German Federal Government in June 2022. Prior to working for Heidelberg Materials Weig held a number of positions in multinational investment banks.
Sergo Vashakidze appointed as Commercial Director Africa & Mediterranean-Western Asia at Heidelberg Materials
10 January 2024Germany: Heidelberg Materials has appointed Sergo Vashakidze as its Commercial Director Africa & Mediterranean-Western Asia. Vashakidze has worked for the group since 2011 in a variety of roles. He became the Deputy General Manager for RMC/AGG operations at HeidelbergCement Kazakhstan in 2014, that country’s Sales and Marketing Director Cement in 2016 and then the Area Commercial Director NEECA (Northern & Eastern Europe - Central Asia) based in Germany in 2021. Prior to this he worked in a variety of banking positions in Georgia and Germany.
Vashakidze holds an undergraduate degree in business administration from the Tbilisi State University and a master’s degree in economics and social studies from the University of Trier.
Czech Republic: Heidelberg Materials subsidiary Českomoravský Cement will change its name to Heidelberg Materials CZ on 1 January 2024. Germany-based Heidelberg Materials’ other subsidiaries in the country - including Českomoravský Beton, Českomoravský Šterk, Pískovny Morava and Tras-Servis - will retain their names but appear under the holding company brand. Českomoravský Cement operates two integrated plants in the country.
Heidelberg Materials Mineralik and UM Recycling start demolition and construction waste partnership
27 December 2023Germany: Heidelberg Materials Mineralik has started a partnership with UM Recycling to use demolition and construction waste in the production of cement and concrete in the greater Frankfurt Area. UM Recycling, a subsidiary of Antal Group, specialises in the disposal and recycling of construction waste and other materials.
George Antal, the owner of the Antal Group, said “After more than 15 years of active work in the dismantling industry, we are looking forward to working with our partner Heidelberg Materials to transform mineral waste into a product for use in concrete and cement, thereby making a valuable contribution to holistic building material recycling."
Heidelberg Materials operates several ready-mixed concrete plants around Frankfurt and runs a cement grinding plant at Mainz.