News

According to a survey conducted by the McGrath Group, almost two-thirds of those involved in the construction industry are unaware that recycled aggregates sold in the UK will need to carry a CE-mark from July. Hitherto CE-marking of aggregates was voluntary in the UK but the new Construction Products Regulations state that from 1 July 2013 all construction products that have a harmonised standard (hEN) or a European Technical Assessment must have CE marking affixed to the product and be accompanied by a de

Holcim and HeidelbergCement intend to balance their respective interests in Cement Australia and to operate the company as a joint venture. Holcim plans to sell 25% of the share capital of Cement Australia to HeidelbergCement. After signing the contract, the two construction materials groups will each hold a 50% interest in this joint venture. The transaction is already approved by the Australian authorities. The parties have agreed not to disclose the cash purchase price. In future, Holcim and HeidelbergCe

The joint venture Fonika Gips (Aksolit's brand) will deliver a gypsum plant in the Kamskoe Ustye district of the Tatarstan Republic (Volga) in July 2013. The enterprise will include an underground mine, a gypsum crushing unit, and seven facilities for producing gypsum mixes and gypsum board. The plant will manufacture 200,000 tonnes of gypsum stone; 15 million m² of gypsum board; 300,000 m² of gypsum partition blocks and 120,000 tonnes of dry building mixes. Investments are estimated at €124.91 million and

SCF Betongelement, the Swedish concrete element manufacturer, has been awarded a contract by JM to be responsible for design, manufacture, and assembly of elements for the Kista Torn building at Kista Centrum near Stockholm. The 40-storey Kista Torn is to be the highest residential building in Stockholm with 266 apartments. The contract is the largest ever received by SCF Betongelement. Planning and design are due to start immediately and construction is scheduled to begin on 1 February 2014.

Finnish Ruskon Betoni that makes ready-mixed concrete products is building a concrete plant in Lappeenranta with the aim of making 25,000m³ of concrete a year. Ruskon Betoni operates in 21 locations around Finland.

Holcim has seen its 2012 sales of cement and clinker fall by 3.6% on year in Romania. The company’s cement and clinker sales declined by 21.7% on year in Bulgaria.

Despite the fall in income in 2012, Vicat will pay a dividend worth €1.50 per share, unchanged. The French building materials group posted consolidated net income down 23.4% to €148 million in 2012, the result of weak activity affecting its cement business as well as its concrete and aggregates arms both in France and in Egypt.

Massucco T is adding to its fleet of new, used and rental equipment by becoming the official McCloskey International dealer for north-west Italy. With offices in Canada and Ireland, McCloskey International is rapidly expanding its global dealer network across all geographies. “The reputation of this equipment is very good,” says Riccardo Messi of Massucco T, which is based in Cuneo.

IronPlanet broke its record for the largest single unit ever sold. A buyer from North Carolina won a Marion 7820 Walking Dragline in IronPlanet’s Daily Marketplace, for the highest bid of US$3 million (€2.3 million) from a seller in Pennsylvania. “This successful sale between two of the largest aggregate producers in the United States is a prime example of how our global marketplace connects buyers and sellers quickly and effectively,” said Greg Owens, CEO of IronPlanet. “Our Daily Marketplace is a compleme

In Ghana, HeidelbergCement is constructing a new cement mill with an annual capacity of 0.8 million tonnes at its grinding plant in the port city of Takoradi. The investment of US$30 million (€24 million) also includes the construction of a new clinker and a new cement silo as well as the installation of new cement bag packing and dispatch facilities. In November 2012, HeidelbergCement inaugurated a new 1 million tonnes cement mill at its grinding plant in Tema some 25km east of the capital city of Accra. “

Italian building materials group Italcementi has posted a loss of €362.4 million for 2012, down from a profit of €91.2 million in 2011. This is entirely the result of €475 million in write-downs and is the highest net loss in the company's history. The company’s EBITDA fell by 9.8% to €632 million, while its turnover dropped 3.8% to €4.48 billion. Falls were recorded in Belgium, France, Spain, Morocco and Bulgaria, while the group's results improved in India, Thailand and North America. The group's investme

Danielle McSorley thought she recognised a niche in the market to connect end-users with suppliers in the construction, agricultural, shipping and transport sectors. So she decided to develop a website which provides a one-stop-shop to link the end-user with the “cheapest and best quality machine, part or shipping price.” The result is machinery-user.com, the new website created by McSorley, grand-daughter of the late entrepreneur business man John Finlay, remembered for his innovations in the concrete, mob

Four early Neolithic houses have been unearthed by archaeologists at Cemex’s Kingsmead Quarry in County Berkshire, south-east England, a discovery that is said to be unprecedented on a single site in England and to challenge current understanding of how people lived more than 5,700 years ago. The rare find offers an opportunity to learn more about the earliest permanent settlements in prehistoric Britain and how such sites developed. At this time new practices were being adopted with people switching lifest