Green Building Materials report predicts concrete value up $11 billion by 2015

Source: The Freedonia Group, Inc., Cleveland

Demand for green building materials is projected to expand 13 percent annually to $71.1 billion in 2015, slightly outpacing the growth of building construction expenditures over that period as green materials continue to account for an increasing share of materials used. These and other trends are presented in Green Building Materials, a new study from market researcher Freedonia Group, which anticipates the largest value gain over the next five years will be from concrete products bearing  recycled content, such as fly ash and blast furnace slag.

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Breckenridge parent looks farther south of St. Louis in three-plant investment

Source: BMC Enterprises, St. Louis; CP staff

After securing a strategic interest, BMC Enterprises will operate the former Ready Mix Concrete Inc. plants in Ste. Genevieve, Perryville, and Fredericktown, Mo., under RMC, LLC. The parent company of St. Louis ready mixed market leader Breckenridge Material Co. has appointed former principal Gaylon Light as RMC, LLC managing director. Another former principal, Terry Guethle, also remains with the business.

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EPA’s latest green infrastructure strategy supports pervious, permeable pavements

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.

As part of its new efforts to promote the use of green infrastructure by cities and towns, EPA includes discussion of such practices as pervious and permeable pavements, as well as rain gardens, green roofs, infiltration plants and rain harvesting, as means of wet weather management that are cost-effective, sustainable and help reduce stormwater runoff that could pollute the nation’s waterways.

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ACI releases 2011 Manual of Concrete Practice

Source: American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, Mich. Available in hard copy, CD-ROM, or an online version, ACI’s benchmark reference contains 200-plus documents on concrete production, testing, delivery, placement, finishing, curing and tolerances, plus engineering and construction methods. The 2011 Manual of Concrete Practice includes the latest version of ACI 318-08, Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete and Commentary. The hard-copy…

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