Construction National

Publications update from The Concrete Centre

As always, The Concrete Centre is on-hand to ensure that designing and building in concrete is as straight forward as possible by providing guidance and tools to support you. To this end, we have just updated several of our most popular guides, as well as producing new titles.

Visit the Publications Library on our new website, at www.concretecentre.com/publications to download these titles.

Whole-life Carbon and Buildings

Concrete-frame construction will of course provide a durable structure, which is a fundamental aspect of whole-life performance. But less understood is its compelling whole-life CO2 performance, resulting from several attributes largely unique to concrete buildings. The aim of this guide is to increase awareness of the whole-life carbon benefits of concrete and masonry. More specifically, the guide covers:

• Concrete specification - keeping the embodied CO2 of concrete to a minimum
• Lean building design - using concrete for multiple roles, enabling other materials to be designed out
• Operational energy - using concrete’s thermal mass to lower operational emissions
• Reuse - reducing the embodied impact of new build through the ability to reuse concrete buildings
• End of life - the absorption of CO2 into concrete through the natural process of carbonation

This guide was available from www.concretecentre.com/publications

Material efficiency

This document provides information on the material and resourceefficiency of concrete and masonry at each stage of their manufacture, design, construction and demolition. Guidance is provided on waste minimisation and material efficiency to inform designers and other construction professionals and enable them to optimise the performance of concrete and masonry.

First published in 2010, this edition has been revised to reflect the progress and latest thinking on resource efficiency addressing circular economy and waste hierarchy models. This edition includes some of the latest data from the Concrete Industry Sustainability Performance Report, including the precast, masonry and ready-mixed concrete sectors and their Resource Efficiency Action Plans (REAPs).

This guide is available from www.concretecentre.com/publications. 

Concrete Framed Buildings

This publication sets out to help the designer come to an informed decision, giving likely structural options for a concrete frame, with useful points to note written by engineers for engineers. First published in 2006, this revision brings it up to date with the latest techniques, including designs to Eurocode 2. 

This guide is available from www.concretecentre.com/publications

8th Concrete Industry Sustainability Performance Report 

The Concrete Industry Sustainability Performance Report, based on 2014 data, details industry progress across a range of indicators. The latest update shows that the overall CO2 emissions associated with concrete production are reducing. In the seven years since the industry published its first report there has been an 11 per cent improvement in energy efficiency and a 13 per cent reduction in carbon intensity. 2014 data resulted in 76.3 kg of CO2 per tonne of concrete, based on the standardised mix. The target for 2020 is to reduce this figure further to 71.8kg of CO2 per tonne, which equates to an overall 30 per cent reduction from the 1990 baseline.

To find out more visit www.sustainableconcrete.org.uk

This is Concrete – Secrets of a Long Life

This magazine was the companion to the Concrete and Masonry Pavilion, drawing out key messages on concrete and masonry, as well as providing visitors with information about the exhibitors and the seminar programme. The magazine focusses on the sustainability Holy Grail of understanding the impact of different design choices over the whole life of a building. Features include:

• Whole-life carbon 
• Resilient thinking: buildings
• Resilient thinking: landscape 
• Product lifecycles 
• High-performance homes
• Concrete’s whole-life credentials

This guide is available from www.concretecentre.com/publications. 

In addition, The Concrete Centre produces Concrete Quarterly which encompasses design guidance, aspiration and latest projects. Features in the latest issue, spring 2016, include:

• Grandchild of the revolution - Essex was the apotheosis of the 1960s university campus. So how would Patel Taylor add a student centre fit for the 21st century? 
• Blanc canvas - A neoclassical gallery in the south of France is reborn with a series of luminous white-concrete spaces.
• Boxing clever - Levitt Bernstein’s precast-concrete grid solution for a Manchester primary school ensured both elegance and a speedy build.
• Playing the long game - this technical feature includes guidance on assessing lifecycle CO2, which is set to become easier with the development of new tools for designers and specifiers.
• Marks of distinction - this feature focuses on the use of different formwork facing materials in the specification of exposed concrete.
• Concrete pool design - this feature highlights key aspects of the design and construction of swimming pool structures in reinforced concrete.
• Lasting Impression - talks to architect Hugh Broughton about his concrete inspirations.

For more information on this issue of Concrete Quarterly, and to view the full archive, visit www.concretecentre.com/cq.