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Day: September 12, 2016

SF Bay Area builder develops new method for crafting concrete homes

Concrete News
Sollars concrete homes are energy efficient and can be designed without limitations. Homeowners can choose from one of many pre-designed models, such as the Webster, or have a customized floorplan to fit their unique needs.

San Jose, Calif.-based Sollars Home, a subsidiary of Sollars Construction Inc., has introduced an advanced technology that, the company notes, produces a better, more efficient home from concrete at a comparable price as well as in half the time of a wood alternative. The Multi-Flex Formwork technology is used to cast buildings in place and is considered by the company as the first new method for building homes since the mid-20th century.

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McInnis Cement sites first U.S. terminal at Port of Providence

Concrete News
The terminal encompasses an existing ProvPort warehouse, which McInnis Cement aims to transform into a world-class receiving and storing facility. The company will also build a modern rail and truck station to load up to 100 tankers and 10 railcars daily.

Rhode Island and Providence officials joined McInnis Cement executives for an early-August groundbreaking at the deep-water Port of Providence, where the producer is building a 30,000-plus ton capacity terminal linked to its Port-Daniel-Gascons mill under construction in eastern Quebec. The $22 million storage and loading facility is positioned to supply much of the New England construction market, especially in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

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Argos, CalPortland, Irving Materials lead NRMCA 2016 Quality Awards

Concrete News

Source: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.

NRMCA will honor 2016 Excellence in Quality Award recipients at a September 20 luncheon, capping the four-day ConcreteWorks 2016 in Nashville. Participants have demonstrated adherence to quality management principles covering materials, production facilities, QC programs and customer satisfaction.

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Insurance interests take note of resilience-wise White House policy

Concrete News

Continuing to focus on how to mitigate increasing economic consequences of extreme weather and other climate-related risks, especially as they relate to the architectural/engineering/construction community and the built environment, the White House hosted Forum on Smart Finance for Disaster Resilience. State and local government officials, along with insurance and financial services stakeholders, assembled last month to learn about new investment approaches and incentive programs presently deployed in communities, and to explore potential innovative financing mechanisms.

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White House guidance stands to hamper transportation project permits

Concrete News

The American Road & Transportation Builders Association has asked the Federal Highway Administration to withdraw a proposal to measure greenhouse gas emissions from new transportation projects. The agency action is part of larger performance measures required under the 2012 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) surface transportation reauthorization law, and follows the White House’s early-August release of “Final Guidance on Considering Climate Change in Environmental Reviews” for federal agencies.

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Feds prevail in ERISA-rooted charges against Cement Masons’ local officials

Concrete News

The Labor Department characterizes a U.S. District Court for the Central District of California decision against a Cement Masons Southern California Trust Funds trustee and attorney as a “victory for whistleblowers.” The court found that trustee and Cement Masons Local 600 business manager Scott Brain and trust counsel Melissa Cook violated two Employee Retirement Income Security Act sections when they caused the firing of Cheryle Robbins and Cory Rice.

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Argos’ art of the nine-figure deal

Don Marsh

By Don Marsh

Colombia-based Argos S.A. demonstrates in its latest investment the credit facilities and drive to build multiple U.S. cement and concrete platforms, perhaps competing for acquisitions with expansion-minded peers on the order of Oldcastle Materials and Summit Materials.

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Structural, thermal mass add up to data center protection

Concrete News
Cemex i

St. Louis-based Ascent LLC, a builder and operator of highly secure data centers is promoting its latest facility on the strength of mass, reinforced concrete: 15-in. walls and a 13.5-in. roof enclosing 42,600 sq. ft. of space. Dubbed DAL1 for its Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex proximity, the new Plano, Texas, facility is built to withstand exposure to 360-mph winds, well above the National Weather Service’s 200-mph threshold for (Enhanced Fujita Scale) EF5 tornadoes.

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