July 20, 2011 – Concrete Products

Oldcastle/Belgard Hardscapes reveals “Beautiful” outdoor kitchen in the heart of the Big Apple

July 20, 2011 Concrete News

Sources: Oldcastle Architectural, Belgard Hardscapes, Atlanta

The much-anticipated House Beautiful Kitchen of the Year with its first-ever outdoor component was unveiled July 18 in New York’s Rockefeller Center. The structure of the custom kitchen was created using a combination of modular components from the Belgard Elements Collection. This includes outdoor living room and kitchen units that are manufactured by Harmony Outdoor Living in a controlled factory setting using Belgard pavers and wall products and shipped in sections to enable site assembly with skid steer. Mike Miles of Belgard Hardscapes and Harmony Outdoor Living notes that “[the] line of factory-built modular units provides a way to easily create luxury hardscape kitchens for a fraction of the time and cost of a site-built kitchen.”

CMA-California, BYU researchers confirm high SCM masonry grout performance

July 20, 2011 Concrete News

Sources: Brigham Young University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Provo, Utah; Concrete Masonry Association of California and Nevada (CMACN); CP staff

To boost market prospects for masonry walls of high recycled materials content, CMACN is supporting an investigation to a) confirm that California Building Code-required strength is maintained in grouts where portland cement is substituted with Class F fly ash at 45–65 percent and Class F fly ash + GGBF slag at 65–85 percent; and, b) observe how prism units containing such grouts behave with Type M, S and N mortars. Under the direction of Professor Dr. Fernando Fonseca, BYU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering staff is preparing to test 180-day grout strengths, following measurement at seven, 28 and 56 days.

Top gun GC completes 200th LEED project

July 20, 2011 Concrete News

Source: Turner Construction Co., New York

The Yale University Health Center in New Haven, Conn., brings another milestone to Turner Construction, the largest general contractor in buildings and one of the oldest players in reinforced concrete work. The 140,000-sq.-ft. facility in New Haven, Conn., is the contractor’s 200^th project to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the Green Buildings Certification Institute.