The National Concrete Masonry Association-backed Building Information Modeling for Masonry Initiative’s (BIM-M) new guide, BIM for Masonry Modeling Masonry Buildings, provides architects, engineers and mason contractors with tools for developing Autodesk Revit models. BIM-M and The Masonry Society teamed to fund and oversee guide production. Published through TMS, the 17MB document is available for free download from www.tms.org.
Read MoreSources: National Concrete Masonry Association, Herndon, Va.; CP staff
Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY-2) and lead co-sponsor Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL-14) have introduced the Concrete Masonry Products Research, Education, and Promotion Act of 2015 (H.R. 985) into the 114th Congress, its title and language nearly identical to 2013 legislation. The bill would authorize concrete masonry interests to conduct an industry-wide referendum establishing a commodity check-off program; approval would lead to a U.S. Department of Commerce-sanctioned stakeholder board empowered to collect a target amount per concrete masonry unit sold.
Read More
Cement and concrete interests have embraced incentives in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED v4 rating system and related standards through which project owners and designers view or stand to view cast-in-place, precast and masonry specifications.
Ernest Maier has added the CarbonCure technology to its Maryland concrete masonry operation, and is poised to be the first Washington, D.C., market operator to issue Environmental Product Declarations and Health Product Declarations for block. An EPD covering CMU processed with a carbon dioxide-based curing system will time with the ongoing implementation of the District of Columbia’s Green Building Act, the first local law requiring new, private buildings to meet LEED rating system standards. EPD will especially factor into projects for which certification under the new LEED v4 is targeted.
Read More
A new Knight Transportation site in North Las Vegas, Nev., earned kudos from the Concrete Masonry Association of California and Nevada, which showcased the project in its Profiles in Architecture newsletter earlier this year, and the Cemex employees who produced its concrete masonry units.
Read More
Doug Crawford has joined Meadow Burke as vice president – Operations & Development. A newly created role, it will see him tasked with leading collaboration between manufacturing and sales functions, plus business development activities, to further strengthen the company’s enterprise operating structure; improve leadership; and, increase the ability to execute strategies driving long-term performance and growth.
Read More
The Construction Calculators Version 4.2 app enables architects and contractors to gauge carbon dioxide emissions reduction when using supplementary cementitious materials to offset portland cement in concrete mix designs. The just-released update builds on one of the industry’s first mobile device-geared software products, launched in 2011, for estimating a project’s ready mixed and aggregate requirements.
Read MoreSources: Banyan Capital Partners, Toronto; CP staff
Backed by private equity operator Banyan Capital, Pennecon Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Larry Puddister has led a management team buyout of the company’s ready mixed, precast and concrete block & paver business—serving markets in the far eastern reaches of North America.
Read MoreSources: Graniterock, Watsonville, Calif.; CP staff
Graniterock’s Construction Calculators Version 4.2 app enables architects and contractors to gauge carbon dioxide emissions reduction when using supplementary cementitious materials to offset portland cement in concrete mix designs. The just-released update builds on one of the industry’s first mobile device-geared software products, launched in 2011, for estimating a project’s ready mixed and aggregate requirements.
Read More
After a public comment period through mid-May, the National Concrete Masonry Association is finalizing a linchpin of forthcoming block and hardscape Environmental Product Declarations (EPD): the draft Product Category Rule (PCR) for “Manufactured Concrete and Concrete Masonry Products.”
Read More