Building Relationships

A visit with 2025 Concrete Masonry & Hardscapes Association Chair David Pitre

Quikrete Hardscapes and Masonry Group’s David Pitre, vice president, Commercial & Architectural, begins his chair term as the Concrete Masonry & Hardscapes Association fully realizes objectives outlined with the July 2022 Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute and National Concrete Masonry Association unification.

Central to that process has been positioning CMHA to represent producers who share many operating conditions but have distinct market and workforce development priorities. Over the past three years, the organization has evolved to serve members in three product categories: gray or architectural building block; paving stone, slab and segmental retaining wall unit; and manufactured stone veneer. Unification has netted the Masonry Committee, with CMU and MSV Marketing and Technical subcommittees; and, Hardscapes Committee, with Segmental Pavement Marketing and Technical subcommittees and SRW Technical and Construction subcommittees. Updates and harmonization of ICPI and NCMA collateral materials, training and outreach assets is in the books as the CMHA brand takes hold.

“It is an honor to serve as chair of the CMHA Board of Directors as we focus on the future,” says Pitre. “I look forward to supporting our strategic initiatives, growing membership, and advancing CMHA’s educational offerings to increase the use of hardscape and masonry products.”

He and fellow directors plan to step up advocacy efforts in three target areas: resilience, permeable pavers and carbon messaging. Underpinning those efforts are strong internal resources; a combined $850,000 in 2025 NCMA Foundation and ICPI Foundation grant program approvals; plus, Concrete Masonry Checkoff (CMC) Board investment in CMHA-managed initiatives of approximately $1 million this year.

RESILIENCE
Joint CMHA and CMC Board work has enabled concrete masonry stakeholders to delve into regional, state and local matters impacting building specifications much more than in the past. “A lot of effort has been made to pinpoint the right role for CMHA as a result of regional or national research, education and promotion programs from the Concrete Masonry Checkoff Board,” explains Bob Thomas, CMHA president and CEO. “With the CMC funding mechanisms now in their second year, CMHA is hitting its stride and ensuring our efforts are not duplicating those of the CMC Board. We are making progress with every passing day to define CMHA and CMC Board responsibilities or roles. The process takes time as we frequently ask who is accountable for what and redirect resources when needed.”

CMHA supports the CMC Board-led design assistance network emerging under the Block Design Collective. Network development dovetails CMHA’s recent appointment of Ben Nantasai as director, Masonry Codes & Standards. In addition to advancing masonry positions in national building code and standards developing organizations, he assists state or regional allied groups and Block Design Collective representatives in their code endeavors.

Among newer codes & standards efforts, CMHA is promoting the concept of foundational resilience, which addresses how quickly structures can adapt to the impact of natural disasters and be brought back into operation following catastrophic events. This focus of property protection and economic recovery goes well beyond the primary life safety objectives that typically drive code objective. Functional resilience allows concrete masonry building method proponents to stress the lower risk of economic loss, along with the message of proven life safety.

CMHA sponsored research in this area of functional resilience is focused initially on two key market areas within high seismic zones: hotel/dormitory markets and retail/warehouse markets.

PERMEABLE PAVERS
Respondents to surveys underlying the CMHA 2024 Hardscape Production Report indicate the Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavers segment saw year-over-year growth of nearly 6 percent, primarily driven by demand in nonresidential applications and the green infrastructure advent. The association feels potential for continued market growth justifies the need for increased permeable paver promotion and technical support.

This year’s CMHA commitments and ICPI Foundation grants will support permeable pavers and the broader hardscape category, which continues to enjoy tailwinds from the outdoor living movement. Figures from the 2024 Hardscape Production report affirm strong market conditions—fueled in part by outdoor space build out—indicating how U.S. and Canadian producers shipped the equivalent of 1 billion square feet of paving stones for a third consecutive year, coupled with the 250 million square feet of segmental retaining wall units. Report findings track metrics of CMHA paver producers, who have opened or announced 15-20 big board plants in the U.S. and Canada since the pandemic.

CARBON MESSAGE
Among cement-based product interests, CMHA members remain at the forefront of quantifying the amount and mechanisms of sequestration of carbon within finished dry cast products and assemblies. Carbonation occurs as curing or hardened concrete absorbs, mineralizes and sequesters carbon dioxide gas.

Through internal investigations and work with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Concrete Sustainability Hub, CMHA has shown how CMUs and other hardscape products, thanks to resulting concrete pore structure of dry cast production, exhibit the highest rate of carbonation among widely specified cement-based structural or architectural products or elements. Credible carbonation and CO2 sequestration metrics will advance the CMU value proposition for building design professionals who are factoring embodied carbon in project planning and procurement.

In 2025, CMHA Vice President of Engineering and Advocacy, Masonry Nick Lang, P.E. and Director of Material Science Craig Walloch will continue work with CSHub researchers to model CO2 sequestration potential in various CMU types. Such modeling will yield critical data for organizations and software programmers who are keen on making embodied carbon top of mind among architectural, engineering, construction professionals and their clients.

Carbonation data will also bolster the Industry-Average Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for Concrete Masonry Units in the United States, a pivotal document CMHA published late last year. Modeling of CMUs’ CO2 sequestration tendencies can positively impact the most commonly referenced metric for cement-based material or product EPDs: Global warming potential, reflecting the CO2 emissions associated with a cubic yard of concrete mix.

PROVEN LEADERSHIP
Few industry observers have a better perspective of market dynamics shaping CMHA membership over the past decade than David Pitre. A veteran of Pavestone Co., the first hardscape unit producer to attain near coast-to-coast presence, he has had a front row view of Quikrete Holdings’ emergence as a top player in cement-based materials or products.

Pitre joined the Atlanta-based producer in 2012, when it branched out from its heritage packaged materials business in a deal for Pavestone. His role has expanded to Vice President of Commercial Sales for the Quikrete Hardscapes & Masonry Group as Quikrete Holdings assimilated the- 90 plus plants manufacturing concrete masonry units, paving stones and segmental retaining walls. The parent company proceeded to build out a manufactured-concrete portfolio with a string of ambitious acquisitions netting #1 or #2 market positions in concrete masonry, hardscapes, pipe and precast production.

Pitre has progressed in leadership roles as the Quikrete Hardscapes and Masonry Group took shape, paralleling new organization charts for a vast concrete pipe, precast and prestressed sister enterprise. If he and his counterparts had not seen enough transactions, Quikrete Holdings announced its boldest move in late 2024: An agreement to acquire Summit Materials Inc., a business long on cement and aggregate production assets offering synergies with the manufactured-concrete portfolio.

The high level of deal making has not precluded investments in plants aligned with CMHA. Most notably on the current Quikrete Hardscape and Masonry Group project roster are outlays for big board machine plants on Jacksonville and Naples, Fla. sites.

Pitre brings more than broad Quikrete Holdings tenure to his CMHA chair term. “I am fortunate to have served as [2014-2015] ICPI chair and have always benefitted from association participation. It has made me a better leader,” he says. “I am also fortunate to have the support of Quikrete Holdings, which is committed to CMHA and peer organizations.”

“CMHA is fortunate to have the support of a leading industry organization like Quikrete,” adds Bob Thomas. “With David Pitre in particular, he is another example of us being blessed to have the right people in leadership positions at the right time. The experience he brings from production and sales, along with previous ICPI leadership, is invaluable. He understands leadership roles and the relationships that are critical to an association like ours, as well as budgeting and strategic planning. His engineering background and understanding of construction enable him to see opportunities for all of us.”