Sources: CP staff; CRH Plc, Dublin
CRH is among suitors for certain assets Switzerland’s Holcim Ltd. and Paris-based Lafarge SA have bundled for sale, thereby advancing a merger the producers hope to consummate by mid-year. Assets on the table include Holcim Canada Inc. and a host of overseas cement, concrete and aggregate businesses.
Read MoreSources: Olympus Precast, Bluffdale, Utah; CP staff
Following nearly a quarter century of measured growth, Owell Precast owners and management have chosen Olympus Precast as the new name of their architectural and structural product operation. Located just outside Salt Lake City, the producer is a key Intermountain market source of Spancrete hollow core plank, plus precast fence, wall and sound wall products.
Read MoreSources: CP staff; New York Times; Associated Press; AvalonBay Communities Inc., Arlington, Va.
“If it was made out of concrete and cinder block, we wouldn’t have this sort of problem,” Edgewater (N.J.) Fire Chief Tom Jacobson said at a press briefing after a blaze destroyed or severely damaged more than half of Avalon at Edgewater, a 408-unit, wood-framed apartment complex built to 1990s-style code. The January 21 incident saw no loss of life and minor injuries to four firefighters and civilians.
Read MoreSource: Portland Cement Association, Skokie, Ill.
Housing starts will increase 20 percent to 1.2 million units this year, from roughly 950,000 units in 2014, PCA Chief Economist Ed Sullivan told a gathering at the 2015 International Builders’ Show, January 20-22 in Las Vegas.
Read MoreSource: Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla
Presentations at the 2015 Missouri Concrete Conference will cover Missouri Department of Transportation Ready Mix Quality Control/Quality Assurance specifications; admixtures for industrial floor projects; exposed aggregate surface issues; corrosion prevention; jobsite water addition; hot and cold weather concreting; accelerated bridge construction; durability testing via concrete resistivity; precast concrete pavement; plus, practical aggregate grading optimization and fine recycled concrete aggregate specs.
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