Throughout the U.S. and Canada, homeowners are seeking outdoor kitchens and living spaces to enhance the ambience as well as the resale value of their homes. As a result, one of the hottest trends in outdoor living is fire pits.
Read MoreMonth: August 2011
Central Florida builder providing functional safe rooms
No stranger to violent storms, Central Florida is seeing an increase in safe room construction, thanks in part to third-generation home builder Kristin Beall, vice-president, Charlie Johnson Builder Inc. The reinforced concrete masonry rooms are being offered in many of the company’s affordable, modest-sized homes to protect homeowners from the threat of hurricanes and tornadoes.
Read MoreACIA, University of Alabama’s safe room displayed at summit
In the wake of the devastating April tornado outbreaks, Alabamians have teamed up to prepare for future natural disasters. The staff of the Alabama Concrete Industries Association and Major Ogilvie of Block USA partnered with University of Alabama professor Jim Richardson, during two weeks in June, to design and construct a concrete block safe room. On June 13, the collaborated structure was displayed at the Safer Alabama Summit in Tuscaloosa.
Read MoreOldcastle/Belgard Hardscapes’ outdoor kitchen shines in Rockefeller Center
Things were served up with a twist at the fourth annual House Beautiful Kitchen of the Year. For the first time ever, the event featured a fully functioning outdoor kitchen component on a stone patio. Belgard Hardscapes furnished veneer stone and unit masonry for the 2,500-sq.-ft. dream kitchen, which was on display at Rockefeller Center from, New York City, in July.
Read MoreAutodesk Homestyler breathes digital life into Kitchen of the Year
Another first for the 2011 House Beautiful Kitchen of the Year is the opportunity for design enthusiasts and home owners to experience the showcase online with Autodesk Homestyler’s home design software.
Read MoreCalStar Pavers, Yard Crashers transform backyard into fiesta
A Chicago couple received a surprise backyard makeover featuring CalStar pavers from DIY Network’s “Yard Crashers” team, led by licensed landscape contractor Ahmed Hassan. The premise of the show is that Hassan approaches someone at a home improvement store and offers an experienced contractor and team to help them redesign their yard.
Read MoreAmerican Concrete, R.W. Sidley expand NRMCA Green-Star map into Iowa, Ohio
As the certification program neared three years of successful plant audits across the industry, Des Moines-based American Concrete Products, Inc., an Oldcastle Materials company, announced in May that its Webster City facility was the first National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) Green-Star plant in Iowa. The first Oldcastle brand with Green-Star certification, American Concrete has brought eight additional properties under the program, and plans to complete audits for its remaining ready mixed sites by year’s end.
Read MoreInvestment banker: Private equity pool, foreign suitors spur valuation rebound
Concrete producers and other companies linked to construction have taken a big hit the past three years, but investors believe in the sector, according to David Mahmood, Chairman of Allegiance Capital, the Dallas investment bank that represented Jersey Precast during its recent transaction.
Read MoreEnergy operator, Ameron merger on track for Q4 close
Subject to a shareholder proxy of unspecified timing, a proposed merger of National Oilwell Varco (NOV), Houston, and Ameron International, Pasadena, Calif., is scheduled by year’s end. Both companies’ boards unanimously approved the $772 million transaction last month. It values Ameron, a longtime concrete producer but better known for composites and steel products, at $85/share—a 27 percent premium to what its shares had traded on the New York Stock Exchange leading to the boards’ action.
Read MoreBank ushers investors into Jersey Precast
Dallas-based Allegiance Capital has enlisted Gemini Investors, Pine Street Capital Partners and Starboard Capital Partners in an equity investment for Jersey Precast Corp., with precast/prestressed operations in Hamilton Township, N.J., and Bethel, Pa. Their investment, terms of which were not disclosed, will help Jersey Precast grow its Northeast geographical footprint through organic measures and acquisitions, and expand its public and private construction sector presence. The producer specializes in engineering and fabrication of products and building systems for civil, commercial, marine and transportation construction markets.
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