Cement News tagged under: construction

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AfriSam annual budget discussion centres on sluggish construction sector

05 March 2024, Published under Cement News

AfriSam recently gathered its stakeholders for its Annual Budget Breakdown event in Johannesburg, to hear insights on the construction sector and budget speech.  Econometrix Chief Economist, Dr Azar Jammine, highlighted that the South African construction and building industries were still in the doldrums, with little sign of emerging from it soon. Dr Jammine pointed to the low economic growth rate and the poor level of gross fixed capital formation as the key culprits for the situation...

Slow recovery for Europe's construction and infrastructure

23 February 2024, Published under Cement News

As government economic stimulus packages for dealing with COVID gradually faded out in 2023, Europe's construction and infrastructure sector witnessed a fall in demand and saw the collapse of many developers. Although inflation is set to decline, aleviating the cost of building materials, analysts CIC-Market Solutions still expect construction output in Europe to have declined by 2.8 per cent in 2023 with a further 2.7 per cent drop forecast in 2024. And while the sector sees demand slipping...

Holcim expands Solutions & Products business

08 February 2024, Published under Cement News

Holcim has acquired ZinCo, a leader in advanced green roofing systems based in Germany with global operations across Europe, Asia and the Americas. The deal forms part of Holcim's efforts to advance its Solutions & Products business to 30 per cent of group net sales by 2025, entering the most attractive segments of construction, from roofing systems to insulation and renovation. According to Holcim, with its integrated green and solar roofing systems, ZinCo is expanding Holcim’s specifi...

Enhancing productivity dominates construction start-ups, reports CEMEX

26 January 2024, Published under Cement News

CEMEX Ventures, the corporate venture capital and open innovation unit of CEMEX, has released its list of the most promising construction technology (Contech) start-ups of 2024. The list reveals the most disruptive start-ups that are redefining the construction industry according to the corporate venture capital’s four strategic focus areas: green construction (sustainability), enhanced productivity (efficiency), construction supply chain (agility), and future of construction (disruption)....

Germany cement contracts as conditions worsen

19 January 2024, Published under Cement News

As Germany's economy faces its worst economic slump in recent times, the domestic construction sector has little to look forward to this year as investments and output shrink under pressure. Data released last week shows that Germany's pre-adjusted GDP fell by 0.3 per cent in 2023 in an environment that continues to be marked by multiple crises, according to national statistics office, Destatis. Despite recent declines, prices remained high at all stages in the economic process and put a da...

Hoffmann Green signs housebuilding contract

10 January 2024, Published under Cement News

France-based Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies , a manufacturer of clinker-free cement, has announced the signing of a partnership until the end of 2027 with Groupe Trecobat, the fourth-largest builder of single-family homes in France.  This partnership with Hoffmann Green will enable Groupe Trecobat to reinforce its low-carbon strategy by taking advantage of Hoffmann’s clinker-free cements for the construction of Trecobat Green homes . For Hoffmann Green, this marks the first partn...

Holcim launches Phoenix, 3D-printed bridge

19 December 2023, Published under Cement News

Holcim has launched Phoenix, the first-of-its-kind 3D-printed concrete masonry bridge built using 10t of recycled materials, at its Innovation Hub in Europe. Using its proprietary ECOCycle® circular technology, Holcim developed a custom concrete ink for Phoenix with recycled materials inside. Phoenix demonstrates how circular construction combined with 3D concrete printing can enable low-carbon infrastructure applications.  Circular construction, using computational design and 3D print...

Cement-free mineral foams for 3D printing

05 December 2023, Published under Cement News

ETH Zurich has launched a project known as Airlements, which pioneers the use of cement-free mineral foams derived from recycled industrial waste, including fly ash from industrial blastfurnaces, to produce 3D printed building components. Spearheaded by doctoral researcher Patrick Bedarf from Professor Benjamin Dillenburger’s Digital Building Technologies group, the technology promises to reduce heating and cooling costs and to revolutionise the efficiency of construction material usage. ...

Can Germany's construction sector avoid collapse?

17 November 2023, Published under Cement News

This week the Financial Times cited that the growing collapse in the German housebuilding sector could spread through the wider economy. Germany's construction sector has plummeted since January 2023, dropping 47 per cent for newbuilds compared with the average in the last two years, despite Chancellor Olaf Scholz's annual build target of 400,000 flats. A 14-point action plan by the federal government may not be enough to stimulate the construction sector quickly enough to prevent the IMF fr...

MPS urges UK government to invest

15 November 2023, Published under Cement News

Ahead of the UK Government’s Autumn Statement on 22 November 2023, the Mineral Products Association (MPA) has written to the chancellor of the exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, urging the government to invest in Britain’s infrastructure rather than accepting a managed decline. Prompted by the government’s decision to cancel Phase 2 of the rail project, HS2, compounding already poor delivery of UK infrastructure projects (including Road Investment Strategies 1 and 2), the MPA’s letter sets out h...