ON SOLID GROUND

The concrete industry has taken its fair share of criticism, but major material producers have met affordability and sustainability issues head-on. By seizing the moment, the industry is on solid ground, Mitchell Keller reports

It might be a messy, polluting material to some, but – to the construction industry – concrete is foundational, literally and metaphorically.

Due to its usefulness and strength – despite being the number one greenhouse gas emitter – concrete is here to stay. There will be no miracle material that is greener, cheaper, or stronger to replace it, at least not in this writer’s lifetime. But leading companies in the materials segment have heard the public’s demand they be more sustainable. Those same companies are also uniquely tuned to the needs of the masons, builders and contractors, who need affordable, reliable and durable products.

It’s a balancing act of delivering concrete capable of lasting centuries against the global expectation that high-polluting materials evolve or die.

Dave Jackson, a senior brand manager for Oldcastle APG (parent company of Sakrete, Amerimix and others), told International Construction that, even though his firms are expected to deliver strong and sustainable products, he believes they’re also responsible for cultivating a knowledge shift as construction materials develop.

DeWalt concrete accessories in-use at World of Concrete 2025

IMAGE: MITCHELL KELLER

Fortera’s Redding, California, 'ReCarb' plant

IMAGE: FORTERA

Dave Jackson, senior brand manager for Oldcastle APG

An Ammann CBS Elba Concrete-Mixing Plant

IMAGE: AMMANN

The masonry skills challenge at World of Concrete 2025

IMAGE: WORLD OF CONCRETE

“We’re trying to… reteach people about concrete,” Jackson says. “There are a lot of products that are more efficient, provide faster time, labour savings, and a better end-product, but [contractors] are not going to make those material selections if they don’t feel confident in their knowledge of it.”

Concrete trends seen at WOC

One major education boost for concreting takes place each year in Las Vegas, Nevada, US. The planet’s largest concrete-specific exhibition – World of Concrete – fills the city’s sprawling convention centre halls with thousands of concrete professionals, concrete suppliers, concrete accessory manufacturers and more.

A palpable feeling every year at World of Concrete (WOC) is just how much this ‘ageold’ industry is advancing. Oldcastle APG’s Jackson was in attendance, and he notes the industry is seeing an increase in repair, rehab and residential work. “A focus on repair is a big deal, and I think we’re seeing that a lot in the industry, overall,” Jackson says. The ‘big deal’ is the opportunity for big money in the segment.

He also noted, especially in coastal or dry regions, concrete and masonry is becoming more popular (again) as a principal product in

advanced aggregate storage options, including high-raised enclosed chambers for environmental protection. “Engineered for long-term durability and tailored to adapt to evolving industry needs, the plant is a future-proof solution.”

Schneider adds, “Ammann’s commitment also includes retrofits of older equipment, which brings plants and machines up to modern sustainable standards.

“There is the industry-leading technology that reduces emissions and enables the use of alternative energy sources.”

Joel Galassini, executive vice president of commercial cement at Cemex

home and residential building (compared to wood builds). He said, referencing recent wildfires around Los Angeles, California, “The houses that survived were built with masonry and concrete.”

In Jackon’s view, the present residential building market is exasperating sustainability issues by skimping on durable products. “I think there is continued pressure where builders want to build as cheap as possible,” he continued. “We need to stop building stick houses that are built to last only 15-20 years.” Joel Galassini, executive vice president of commercial cement at Cemex, agrees with this perspective, noting his task (in addition to helping develop new sustainable products) is finding novel means to lower carbon emissions in production, logistics and delivery.

“Contractors and owners are now asking for global warming potential (GWP) as part of their bids. Historically, it was just about price, but now, there’s a new column on the spreadsheet: what’s your GWP?” says Galassini.

“The companies that embrace these innovations will be the ones that thrive. Sustainability isn’t just about regulation anymore – it’s a business opportunity.”

A dirty job with huge upside

Pushing the segment to embrace change isn’t always easy. “This is an industry that has been doing things the same way for many, many years,” added Galassini. “But I think you’re finally starting to see bits and pieces of change.” Perhaps changed today from even one decade ago: the industry is no longer trying to hide from its outsized impact on carbon emissions. “We know it’s dirty,” Oldcastle’s Jackson said point blank. “It’s 7-8% of the world’s

CO2 emissions.” It’s the type of transparency now abundant in the industry; concrete, cement, and aggregate manufacturers are largely in unison on creating new sustainable products.

Jackson said a move toward Type 1L cement (Portland Limestone Cement) has been successful in curbing, foundations, paving and in some precast products while reducing CO 2 emissions by about 10%. It’s by no means on the high-end of the emissions reduction spectrum, but it’s a good base-level for a commonly used product.

He noted experimentation with different recycled additives like plastic, biologicals, and glass/pozzolan are showing even further carbon reductions, while also maintaining strength and performance.

Pricing and construction’s familiarity with traditional cement-based concrete, in Jackson’s view, are also part of what’s holding back a commercial-level switch to more sustainable alternatives. But, as new materials become more common, Jackson believes the price will become right for a larger swathe of contractors. Cemex’s Galassini noted artificial intelligence (AI) was also at play helping reveal cost and sustainability savings. “We’re using AI to manage our finish mills,” he explains. “Instead of relying on manual adjustments, AI systems monitor data in real time and optimise operations. We’re seeing 10% efficiency gains, and as the technology learns, those gains will continue to grow.”

But reducing direct and embodied carbon emissions requires more than just changes to the material, and companies are increasingly looking at clients’ processes holistically to determine if more than swapping out materials can help save money and reduce emissions. “People often overlook the simple efficiencies: don’t let trucks idle, optimise fuel use, and schedule deliveries better,” Galassini explained. A more expansive knowledge of concrete products and processes should enable contractors and builders to feel more comfortable charging appropriate prices based on the material or method used and in their ability to pour and lay it.

The South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center during 2025’s World of Concrete expo IMAGE: WORLD OF CONCRETE

“It’s just giving folks the license to say, ‘I can charge more, because people will pay more because the product is better,’” Jackson added.

Craig Hargis, vice president of products, Forter

The quest for net-zero

Back at WOC, the concrete production process – and the available strategies – seemed to drive as many conversations on the floor as the material itself. As the industry improves its control over embodied carbon emissions, some companies are touting big gains.

US-based Fortera – a materials tech company producing cementitious material – is one of those companies. The firm’s vice president of products, Craig Hargis, tells International Construction, “The way we do that is through our ReCarb process.”

Hargis says Fortera’s production

procedure relies on limestone quarries for feedstock but can also use waste sources of calcium.

“The first step of that is going to be to calcine the limestone and create lime,” he adds. “That’s just traditional lime production processes. “The next thing in our process, the re-carb process, is going to be the dissolution of that lime. So, we dissolve all the lime into our process solution, so that whenever we take it to the CO2 absorber – and we recapture the carbon dioxide – we can then precipitate it in a reactive form of calcium carbonate.

“And that’s what’s really different about our calcium carbonates [compared to] just limestone; we have activated them and made them reactive,” Hargis says, noting that’s where the product name (ReAct) was born.

In finished form, ReAct is a reactive calcium carbonate polymorph, known as vaterite, which can be blended into ASTM C150, C595, or C1157 cements or mixed into concrete during batching.

The company’s chief manufacturing officer, Keith Krugh, says he believes the company’s high-performance brand (ReAct Pure) can achieve zero and negative embodied

CO2 emissions in the future.

Gazing into the concrete ball

Typically, this would be the portion of the article where we ‘look into the crystal ball’ of the topic’s future. But, instead, let’s gaze into a concrete ball.

That’s essentially what Pathways does, a US- based firm building a platform to accelerate and simplify material decarbonisation. Pathways uses an AI-enabled platform to analyse supplier data, which gives manufacturers insight into their environmental emissions impact through a dynamic Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) model.

www.constructionbriefing.com

Workers spread concrete for a roadworks job IMAGE: ADOBE STOCK

CEMEN TECH INTRODUCES NEW SOFTWARE

Earlier this year, US-based Cemen Tech – a specialist volumetric concrete mixer OEM – introduced the latest iteration of its ACCU-POUR fleet management software, designed to enhance operational efficiency for concrete producers.

The update to the cloud-based platform now enables customers to request quotes, track orders, and view invoices through a digital portal, helping streamline the management of scheduling, dispatch, and fleet operations.

Users can also monitor equipment locations and material usage in near realtime, facilitating proactive decision-making to maintain consistent workflow. The software also generates digital batch tickets and invoices for completed jobs, ensuring accurate and timely billing.

The software also tracks production data and generates reports based on mixer output. Integration with Cemen Tech’s C Series mixers, including the C60, automates data recording, which can be downloaded directly from the fleet management system or accessed via an API.

The company also recently introduced the first electric volumetric mixer, now operational in the Netherlands, in a partnership with Volvo.

“The addition of electric volumetric mixers not only allows us to be more sustainable

An all-electric volumetric mixer in the Netherlands IMAGE: CEMEN TECH

but also helps more customers meet sustainability regulations,” Connor Deering, CEO and president of Cemen Tech, says. “More city and municipal governments are mandating electric trucks on projects, especially in urban centres where zeroemissions are critical, and many construction sites are adopting stricter policies.”

Basically, it’s taking the aforementioned concrete ball and determining its properties to develop data that can be extrapolated throughout the material’s life.

Dorian Krausz from Pathways tells International Construction one of the main challenges in material decarbonisation has been the static nature of EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations), which are often based on outdated data.

“Right now, sustainability consultants generate these reports manually, and by the time the manufacturer receives them, the data is already two years old,” Krausz says. “That means they’re locked into numbers that don’t reflect real-time opportunities for improvement. If contractors don’t have accurate EPDs for the materials they procure, architects and engineers can’t make informed decisions about a project’s overall carbon footprint.”

The platform simplifies the traditional manual process of generating EPDs, which quantify the GWP of materials like concrete. Ultimately, the company wants to take the guesswork out of contractors’ concrete procurement. “General contractors are in a unique position when it comes to sustainability and lifecycle assessments because they serve as a hub for designers, engineers, and suppliers,” says Krausz. “When we talk about environmental impact, LCA is performed at the building level, but it relies heavily on product-level assessments. Without reliable data from material manufacturers, those whole-building calculations suffer.” As regulatory benchmarks tighten and contractors face growing pressure to deliver lower-carbon buildings, tools like Pathways’ platform are helping the industry make informed decisions. “The construction sector is finally moving beyond just acknowledging EPDs to actually leveraging them for competitive advantage,” says Krausz.

Dorian Krausz, Pathways’ founding carbon and customer success lead

A concrete future

All the mixtures, logistics and cementitious material aside: the future of concrete could very well be set in a prefabricating facility.

“You’re going to start seeing more precast construction instead of cast-in-place

A multi-storey concrete pour IMAGE: ADOBE STOCK

concrete,” Galassini notes. “It allows for easier construction, better inventory management, and greater efficiency, especially in urban environments with restricted work hours. “That will change construction. Now you have to figure out how to build with LEGOS as opposed to putting together a mould and pour it all together.”

So, in a decade, a mason pours concrete into a mixer; it will look the same, probably smell the same and stick to boots the same.

However, the environmental impact of that concrete will be less, and its projected life span will be longer than today. It may also be that the mason starts his day in a factory, pouring the material to be precast and manufactured for future use.

It may seem like small steps, but for the world’s most widely-used manmade material, it would be a monumental leap.

iC