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Caroline Hempstead has been appointed as head of communication, public affairs and sustainable development of LafargeHolcim effective from 1 December 2015, reporting to CEO Eric Olsen.

Since 2007, Hempstead has been responsible for the global corporate affairs team at pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, where she also chaired the sustainability council.

Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Hempstead spent 10 years in the oil industry at Royal Dutch Shell managing the reputation of Shell's global downstream b

Grab a photo of one of Hope Construction Materials’ (Hope) special festive cement lorries, tweet it and you could win an all-new Apple TV!

Anyone can snap and share images of Hope’s new festive powder tankers – which hit the UK’s roads yesterday (7 December) – to be in with a chance of winning Apple’s state-of-the-art home entertainment unit or a host of runners-up prizes.

Demand for new crushers and screens is being driven by upcoming road infrastructure projects in India, writes Partha Pratim Basistha.

The Indian government has started awarding fresh road contracts as well as kick-starting stalled projects, following the “tardy” release of contracts a few years back.

Drilling and breaking are vital parts of any quarry operation, and recent successful applications have emphasised this. Patrick Smith and Guy Woodford report

A Rammer 5011 rock breaker has been successfully used to break extremely hard granite on a Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, residential development, while transportability, fuel economy, fast mounting and dismounting all played a major role when Mikael Kauppi, CEO of Swedish company Magnus Schakt was looking for a new drill rig.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s infrastructure deficit presents a perfect storm of opportunities for the broader spectrum of the building and construction materials value chain, ranging from aggregate suppliers through to the equipment supply chain.

It is a well-quoted fact that sub-Saharan Africa is historically among the least developed regions of the world, and as it plays catch-up with the rest of the world, the pace of its construction activity is rapid and causing a major shift for the building materials ind

BHS-Sonthofen says its founding of BHS-Sonthofen Turkey Makina Sanayi in Istanbul will enable the crushing, mixing and recycling company to offer its Turkish customers expert local advice. The newly established subsidiary is a joint venture developed from a long-standing business relationship with DTR Industries.

A number of BHS-Sonthofen machines and installations have been in operation in Turkey for several years, handling applications such as processing slag and mixing concrete, with the firm’s crushe

Kobelco Construction Machinery Europe (KCME) is continuing its European network expansion with the addition of a new authorised German dealer. Lopez-Infantes Baumaschinen is now responsible for the service and supply of Kobelco construction machinery throughout the eastern part of the North-Rhine-Westphalia territory.

Mexican building materials giant Cemex has today announced a number of changes to its senior level organisation, effective 1 January 2016.

After acquiring a previously loss-making opencast limestone mine, the new owner has implemented several changes to turn around the operation. One key modification, among many critical transformations, is the optimisation of drilling and blasting parameters which have, to a large extent, improved the utilisation of equipment, productivity and economics. By Munesu Shoko.

In March 2013, in line with its diversification strategy, Afrimat, one of South Africa’s leading open pit mining companies providing indu

Production of pre-packaged concrete in Italy is expected by ATECAP to drop 9.3% year-on-year in 2015 based on production registered in the first nine months of 2015. However, ATECAP, the Italian Technical Economic Association for Ready-mixed Concrete, estimates that concrete production should grow 1.1% in 2016.

Two Algerians have reportedly developed a cement from a mix of sludge taken from the El Ksob dam and clinker. The new kind of cement is said to be almost as resistant as conventional cement and has a much lower CO2 emission rate.

Cement production in the Chinese province of Hubei hit 91.21 million tonnes in the first 10 months of 2015. In October 2015 alone, the province’s cement output stood at 10.54 million tonnes. Hubei's cement production volume is expected to reach around 110 million tonnes in 2015.

Malaysia-based Stone Master recorded a fiscal Q4 2015 year-on-year decline in revenue from MYR 19.63 million (US$4.6 million) to MYR 17.41 million ($4.08 million). The company’s net loss within the same period improved slightly from MYR 2.16 million ($506,550) to MYR 2.15 million ($504,205). For the full fiscal year, the company recorded a year-on-year revenue decline from MYR 80.9 million ($18.97 million) to MYR 76.39 million ($17.91 million), while its net loss grew from MYR 3.26 million ($764,515) to MYR

Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman is tipping revenues for the US construction equipment manufacturing giant to be down for the fourth year in a row in 2016 – what will be an unwelcome first in the company’s 90-year history.

Oberhleman makes the prediction and talks about other key issues affecting Caterpillar trading in a filmed interview with Fortune magazine’s Susie Gharib.

Of Caterpillar’s attempts to increase its market share in China, the biggest construction market in the world, where the US firm

LafargeHolcim intends to invest €300 million in its Algerian operations in 2016. Some of the money will go on starting production at its Biskra factory which will have an output capacity of 2.7 million tonnes of cement/year.

Meanwhile, LafargeHolcim will also create a 'construction laboratory' in Rouiba, in order to change its economic model from 'product seller' to 'solutions provider' - providing construction technology solutions for affected companies.

The Group also aims to direct its surplus p

According to Uzstroymaterialy chairman Erkin Akramov, Uzbekistan plans to increase its cement output by six million tonnes in the coming five years. Equipment will be upgraded at Kizilkumcement, Bekabadcement, and Kuvasaycement, and new plants will be constructed. Currently, eight cement plants with a total capacity of 8.64 million tonnes are working in the country.

LafargeHolcim has reported that its sales of cement in Romania increased by 15.3% from January-September 2015, compared to the same nine months of 2014. This is said to be primarily due to increased building activity in the Bucharest region.

The newly merged sector heavyweight company's report stated that sales of aggregates went up by 72.3% on year for the first three quarters of 2015, domestic cement prices decreased 0.8% year-on-year, while aggregate prices went down 15.1%. Holcim Romania ended the ye

Lafarge Ready Mix Nigeria has formalised its partnership with Construction Kaiser at a signing ceremony at The Moor House Hotel, in Lagos, Nigeria.

The agreement records a mutual understanding of partnership, in which Lafarge Ready Mix Nigerian (LRMN) will supply all of Construction Kaiser’s (CK) ready-mixed concrete needs across the west African country.

A market leader in quality concrete solutions, LRMN began operations in September 2011. Leveraging on LafargeHolcim’s experience, the ready-mixed ar

China-based cement maker Conch International Holdings (HK) Ltd (Conch) plans to increase its shareholdings in fellow Chinese cement maker West China Cement Ltd (West Cement) through a US$592.21 million (HKD 4.59 billion) investment.

Once the deal is completed, Conch will need to conduct a mandatory takeover offer for the shares in West Cement it does not already own, as the stake it owns will rise to 51.57%. Currently, it owns a 21.17% equity holding in West Cement.

Italian retread tyre manufacturer Marangoni and GRP Ltd, India’s largest and world’s leading rubber recycling company, have established a joint venture for commercial vehicle tyre retreading in India.

The JV is said to leverage the strengths of the two partners – Marangoni as a retreading systems company and GRP in rubber recycling and understanding of the Indian market – to bring a world class retreading solution to the Indian commercial vehicle fleets that will help them extend the life of their tyres