Auto protection product manufacturer WeatherTech Direct LLC, Bolingbrook, Ill., offered the 100 million-plus viewers of this year’s Super Bowl a quick sampling of precast concrete construction methods’ speed and efficiency in a 30-second spot aired during the second quarter.
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Drawing 4,500-plus attendees late last month to Denver, The Precast Show continues a steady, post-recession growth trajectory as North America’s largest annual, precast-specific trade show. This year’s event had 375 exhibitors across 73,000 net square feet of Colorado Convention Center space.
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Fired-clay brick trends for 2018 feature whites, grays, black, deep reds, painted and glazed brick with overall larger unit sizes. Brick Industry Association (BIA) producer members report that clean, cool shades top product favorites at all home price ranges, primarily whites with white mortar and all grays from light to charcoal and steel. Sandy earth tones are also trending, reflecting how fired-clay brick is made from abundant natural resources.
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Staged last month in Indianapolis, the Annual Convention and International Concrete Exposition 2018 provided a backdrop for members, staff and allied groups to kick off celebration of National Concrete Masonry Association’s 100 years of advocacy, research, standards, and industry promotion activities. Under the centennial banner, NCMA opened three days of convention and networking activities, followed by the two-day ICON Expo – Machinery & Equipment Show. The convention included the premier of “1968–1993 The Modern Era,” the third installment of a four-part History Video series posted at the content-rich www.ncma100.com. The gathering sets the stage for the 1993–2018 video release and main 100th anniversary festivities during the NCMA 2018 Mid-Year Meeting, July 31-August 3 in Chicago.
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World of Concrete 2018 logged just over 58,000 registered attendees from the concrete and masonry business, plus 1,567 exhibitors—302 of them new this year—promoting equipment, products, materials and services across nearly 750,000 square feet of Las Vegas Convention Center indoor and outdoor space.
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Researchers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., aim to move testing of a cellulose nanocrystal admixture from campus laboratories to a California concrete construction site this year. Derived from the world’s most common polymer, the nanocrystals strengthen concrete through a chemical reaction increasing cement particle hydration. They provide what Civil Engineering Professor Pablo Zavattieri characterizes as a rail or avenue for water to go where it is needed in the concrete matrix, especially unhydrated particles.
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BASF AG and CRH Plc are among 30 companies joining the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Factor10. The initiative seeks to advance principles of the circular economy, where the “take-make-dispose” economic model yields to one that is regenerative by design. Charter companies span 16 major sectors and report combined annual sales of $1.3 trillion.
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Lehigh Hanson parent company HeidelbergCement AG is selling its 51 percent stake in Lehigh White Cement Co. to minority shareholders in a deal valued at about $140 million and scheduled for closing this quarter. Ownership of Lehigh White Cement, which has 280,000 tons capacity in York, Pa., and Waco, Texas, plants, will be split between Aalborg Cement Co. (63.25 percent), a North American business of Denmark-based Aalborg Portland Holding A/S, and Cemex Inc. (36.75 percent).
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program (EPP) has recognized the Certified Environmental Facts multi-attribute label, developed by GreenCircle Certified LLC. EPP references specifications, standards and ecolabels to help federal agency purchasers identify and specify environmentally sustainable products and services.
Read MoreU.S. Representatives Phil Roe, M.D. (R-TN) and Donald Norcross (D-NJ) present their Give Retirement Options to Workers (GROW) Act as a bipartisan effort designed to modernize, strengthen and safeguard the multiemployer pension plan system for the future.
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