Displaying items by tag: construction

Malaysia: Cahya Mata Sarawak says that it has no plan to double the capacity of its Bintulu, Sarawak, grinding plant, Reuters News has reported. The company, however, noted the potential ‘opportunity’ offered by the construction of a new Indonesian capital in Nusantara, East Kalimantan, on the opposite side of Borneo.

India: JSW Cement has dedicated a new temple at its Ankur commune in Salboni, West Bengal, to the goddess Maa Kali. The Orissa Diary newspaper has reported that architecture firm Dulal Mukherjee and Associates designed the temple in the 17th century Bishnupur style. The place of worship is made of locally sourced terracotta.

JSW Cement spokesperson Anushree Jindal said "JSW Cement believes in collaborating with local communities to empower them for a better future. I feel blessed and privileged to have facilitated the creation of a pious, safe haven of worship for the local community in Salboni."

Burundi: The government of Burundi says that it is ready to sign a credit letter with Dangote Cement for the establishment of a cement plant in the country. In this way, the government hopes to provide a long-term solution to the on-going national cement shortage. In the meantime, the government urged Dangote Cement to devise ‘modalities for the supply of construction materials’ into the country.

Burundian delegates at a meeting with Dangote Cement on 8 July 2022 said that Northwest Burundi is endowed with abundant limestone reserves.

Switzerland: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies has launched a new joint venture with a Switzerland-based construction industry partner. Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies will hold a minority stake in the new subsidiary, which will produce its reduced-CO₂ clinkerless cement at an upcoming plant. The producer says that the unit will apply the vertical production model of its existing H2 plant in France.

Co-founders of Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann said "After signing our first contract outside France more than a year ago, we are proud to accelerate our international development through a licensing model for Hoffmann Green technologies and processes. The opening of this first subsidiary in Switzerland proves the attractiveness of our carbon-free solution without clinker outside our borders, and constitutes a structuring step in the development of Hoffmann Green."

Australia/Canada: Fortex and Nidus3D have won contracts to become Denmark-based COBOD’s distribution partners for the Australian and Canadian markets respectively. Nidus3D previously printed a multi-unit residential building, the first of its kind in North America, using COBOD’s 3D printing equipment. Meanwhile, the supplier says that its first BOD2 3D printer available on the Australian market will arrive there in late 2022.

Regarding the Australian contract with Fortex, COBOD noted that it will make its equipment available on six different continents.

South Korea: Korea Cement Association (KCA) members’ cement shipments fell by 90% over two days to 13,000t on 8 June 2022 from 180,000t/day prior to a truck driver strike which began on 7 June 2022. The association claimed that producers lost US$23m-worth of sales in the first two days of the strike, which also affects other industries. 17 ready-mix concrete batching plants in the Seoul area have suspended operations. The Korea Herald newspaper has reported that the association representing the construction industry has also voiced concerns about the supply situation.

US: Eagle Materials has recorded consolidated sales in its 2022 financial year of US$1.9bn, up by 15% year-on-year. The group’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was US$657m, up by 15%. Full-year cement sales totalled US$1bn, up by 7%, with operating earnings of US$260m, up by 11%. The group’s cement volumes rose by 1% to 7.5Mt.

President and CEO Michael Haack said "As we look back on another extraordinary year, I am extremely proud of our team's ability to deliver record operating and financial results despite multiple external challenges, including transportation disruptions, supply chain constraints and, of course, continuing to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic.” He added "As we begin our new fiscal year, Eagle is well-positioned, both financially and geographically, to capitalise on the underlying demand fundamentals that are expected to support steady and sustainable construction activity growth over the near and long term. We expect that infrastructure investment should increase in the latter part of our fiscal year, as federal funding from the recently enacted Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act begins in earnest. And, despite recent interest rate increases, housing demand remains strong across our geographies, outpacing the supply of homes. Nonresidential construction activity is also picking up."

India: ACC has launched Holcim’s Houses of Tomorrow sustainable homebuilding initiative with the construction of a low CO₂ home in Puducherry called Gratitude Villa. Projects Today News has reported that architect Trupti Doshi selected building materials to reduce CO₂ emissions by 40% by comparison to conventional materials such as ordinary Portland cement (OPC). She opted for ACC’s Suraksha brand cement, fly ash bricks and ECOPact green concrete.

UK: UK construction recorded its highest ever quarterly total value at Euro27.5bn in the first quarter of 2022. Participants in the industry agreed Euro10.4bn-worth of construction contracts in March 2022. Analyst Barbour ABI has reported that residential construction contracts rose by 50% month-on-month to Euro4.22bn, their highest level since the Covid-19 outbreak arrived in the UK in March 2020. Chief economist Tom Hall noted a year-on-year and month-on-month increase in office construction activity as indicative of a reversal of the home-working trend of the past two years.

Hall said “While the current state of the industry is positive with lots of activity and record-breaking levels of contracts awards and planning approvals in some areas, the horizon is more concerning. Overall, the level of planning applications received in March was low and raises questions about the delivery of the government’s commitment to raise the standard of healthcare across the country and its flagship levelling up agenda.”

Argentina: Holcim Argentina has launched a hackathon for project proposals aimed at boosting gender inclusivity in the Argentinian construction sector. Projects may fall along one or more target axes: awareness, education and training, enterprise or public policy. Two winning projects will claim US$300,000 each in prize money, and the contest is open to anyone over 18. The company says that the hackathon is an invite to open a conversation about the presence and appreciation of women in cement and construction.