Outdoor Living Supply adds Pennsylvania’s Norristown Brick

Sources: Outdoor Living Supply, Rochester, Minn. Outdoor Living Supply has strengthened its mid-Atlantic market presence with the acquisition of Norristown Brick, an independent masonry, landscape, and hardscape materials supplier serving commercial and residential accounts in the Montgomery County, Pa. area. The company was founded in 1986 with the goal of providing a comprehensive selection of quality hardscaping and masonry materials.…

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Florida block producers bracket March Masonry Matchup

Sources: Florida Concrete & Products Association, Orlando; CP staff Sunshine State concrete masonry producers are revisiting a March 2021 promotion to continually spotlight the potential of gray and architectural block in single-family residential building. Their March Masonry Matchup has kicked off with a bracket of 16 homes posted at the portal of their Block Strong campaign. Weekly voting tallies at…

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General Shale parent observes masonry robot’s productive dexterity

Robotics technology developer FBR Limited of High Wycombe, Western Australia, recently completed the first house using its Hadrian X. The block- and brick-placing robot was demonstrated at the company’s headquarters with Porotherm clay block from Vienna-based Wienerberger Group, parent company of North American brick leader General Shale.  The structure was built in a style commonly found in Europe, featuring gable…

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Premier Package

Oldcastle APG makes major capital investment in bagging plant along Charlotte-Atlanta corridor By Don Marsh Significant capital investments made by Oldcastle APG, a CRH company, have timed well with strong 2020-2022 building activity. On the heels of a similar investment in Austin, Texas, the provider of integrated outdoor living solutions finalized its most recent big-ticket investment in the last year:…

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Feds stipulate asset sale tied to General Shale’s Meridian takeover

Sources: U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division; CP staff The Justice Department Antitrust Division calls for General Shale Brick and Meridian Brick LLC to divest three plants, 14 showrooms and distribution yards, plus six mines in a proposed settlement of an antitrust lawsuit challenging the producers’ merger. The agency filed the settlement and suit-triggering complaint in the U.S. District Court…

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Balancing Act

A visit with 2021 NCMA Chairman Rocky Jenkins BY DON MARSH Rocky Jenkins’ career in manufactured concrete products was launched from a management trainee program in the house that Florida legend M.E. “Doc” Rinker built. That experience will serve Jenkins as the 2021 National Concrete Masonry Association Chairman. 

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CMU Checkoff concerns: Escrow terms, districting, and fund allocations

By Edward Antonini While we have always supported the research, education, and promotion of concrete masonry units, Angelus Block Co., Inc. vehemently opposes the CMU Checkoff about to be voted on by the industry. Among the multitude of problems in the Department of Commerce’s proposed CMU Checkoff order and its associated one-cent per block collection, we find: It mandates an…

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Best Block 8 x 32 CMU weighs on the Construction Robotics MULE

Sources: Quikrete Cos. and Best Block, Atlanta; Construction Robotics, Victor, NY; CP staff Masonry Madness at World of Concrete 2021 offered a prime venue to show the speed and productivity of building with Best Block 32-in. Large Format Masonry (LFM) and the Construction Robotics Material Unit Lift Enhancer, best known as the MULE. A two-day equipment demonstration was set up…

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ORGANIZATIONS – JUNE 2021

The ACI Foundation has established the Burg-Coleman Iowa State ‘77 Fellowship, funded by a $75,000 donation from American Concrete Institute Executive Vice President Ronald Burg and 2020-21 President Jeffrey Coleman. Both are 1977 graduates of Iowa State University College of Engineering: Coleman a master’s in structural engineering, following a degree in civil engineering the prior year; and Burg, a degree…

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Masonry interests affirm block construction economy, speed

Sources: Block Strong, Orlando, Fla.; CP staff Block Strong, a public awareness-geared partnership between the Florida Concrete & Products Association Inc. and Florida Concrete Masonry Education Council Inc., taps current Pennsylvania State University research to inform multifamily project specifications. Stakeholders especially note a) how construction materials can be an afterthought when developers and real estate investment trusts define the financial…

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