Brick News
- In December 2022, Siam Cement BigBloc Construction Technologies ( a 52:48 joint venture of BigBloc Construction Limited and SCG INTERNATIONAL INDIA PVT LTD) successfully acquired land in Gujarat, India, for setting up a factory to produce AAC Blocks and Panels with an annual production capacity of 300,000 cubic meters which is expected to commence by the year 2023.
- In October 2021, Wienerberger completed the acquisition of Meridian Brick in the North American region by acquiring the business in the United States and Canada. Meridian Brick produces more than 1.1 billion bricks annually and is a leading brick supplier in Texas, the southeastern USA, Ontario, and Canada.
Related Construction Chemicals and Materials Industry News
- July 2024: CEMEX SAB de CV entered a joint venture with Couch Aggregates, a sand and gravel supplier, and Premier Holdings, a distributor of marine bulk products. This collaboration aims to bolster Cemex's aggregate reserves by focusing on the production, distribution, and sale of sand, gravel, and limestone in the Mid-South United States. As a result, Cemex is set to enhance its presence and offer improved, expedited services to this burgeoning region.
- July 2024: Heidelberg Materials acquired Carver Sand & Gravel, the largest aggregates producer in Albany, New York. This acquisition boosted the company’s operations, including crushed stone, sand and gravel, asphalt, and logistics, with a combined material capacity of around 3 million metric tons annually.
- June 2024: ATCO Ltd structures division revealed its acquisition of NRB Ltd (NRB), a Canadian manufacturer specializing in modular structures for industrial, educational, and residential purposes. The deal, valued at CAD 40 million (~USD 29.24 million), was slated for completion by late July 2024. This strategic move by ATCO Structures underscores its ambition to bolster manufacturing, operational reach, and sales, particularly targeting the growing modular residential segment.
- August 2023: WillScot acquired Cold Box in California and A&M Cold Storage in Ohio. This acquisition has solidified WillScot's position, propelling it to become one of the leading providers in the temporary cold storage sector. These units serve diverse customers in need of onsite climate-controlled space. Through this acquisition, the company owns approximately 2,200 climate-controlled containers and refrigerated storage trailers, a regional modular space manufacturing and leasing business consisting primarily of approximately 1,300 modular leasing units, and a US national provider of premium large clearspan structures.
- October 2023: Etex Group acquired the plasterboard and fiber cement businesses of BGC, an Australian construction materials company. This acquisition would allow Etex Group to broaden its footprint in Australia. With a wide range of products and good access to the channels, this acquisition would reinforce the company's plasterboard offerings and position it well for increasing fiber cement production.
- October 2022: USGKnauf announced its plans to build a new gypsum wallboard plant in Huedin, Cluj County. The investment is expected to support Romania's energy savings campaign, encouraging renovation in the country's dwellings.
- January 2024: Qassim Cement Company announced that it signed an agreement to acquire all shares of Hail Cement Company through a securities exchange offer.
- January 2024: Yamama Cement announced the expansion of a production line and shifted its old plant site south of Riyadh to its new site at Northern Halal in the Al-Kharj governorate. The expansion and shifting of the project will increase the capacity from 10,000 tons/day to 12,500 tons/day.
- January 2023: Kingspan Group launched a range of reduced-CO2 insulation panels called QuadCore LEC. The newly launched 100mm-thick QuadCore AWP panel has 40% lower embodied CO2 than an EN15804-A2 standard insulation panel of the same thickness.
- October 2022: Kingspan Group acquired mineral wool-based sandwich panel producer, Invespanel. The portfolio of the acquired company, Invespanel, includes extruded polystyrene (XPS) and expanded polystyrene (EPS)-core refrigeration panels to be used in various application areas.
- July 2022: ENERCON Specialty Building Systems Corporation established an agreement with DNB Bank ASA for the construction of wind farm Ersträsk North with a total capacity of 134.4 MW located in the Markbygden wind farm area.
- January 2024: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies announced the signing of a partnership to sell its clinker-free, low-carbon cement targeting the BtoC market through the retail network of Bricomarché, Bricorama, Brico Cash, and Tridôme (part of Les Mousquetaires Group).
- November 2023: Heidelberg Materials introduced the world’s first carbon-captured net-zero cement under its new evoZero brand to customers in Europe. evoZero achieves its net-zero footprint through the application of carbon capture and storage technology at the Heidelberg Materials plant in Brevik, Norway, without compensation from credits generated outside the company’s value chain.
- September 2023: Fortera Corporation aimed to fire up as many as seven commercial plants in the next five years with USD 1 billion in financing to fund its aggressive expansion.
- June 2023: Buzzi S.p.A., through the fully owned subsidiary Dyckerhoff GmbH, reached an agreement to sell some of its businesses in Eastern Europe to CRH, a leading building materials solutions company, for a consideration of €0.1 billion (approx. USD 108 million). The transactions included the business in Ukraine and ready-mix concrete assets in East Slovakia. In Ukraine, Buzzi operates two integrated cement plants located close to Rivne and Mykolaiv.
- May 2023: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies commissioned its H2 plant adjacent to its existing H1 clinker-free cement plant in Bournezeau, Pays de la Loire. The production unit took two years to construct with an investment of EUR 22 million (USD 24.16 billion) and has a production capacity of 1000 tons per day of clinker-free cement. The company's clinker-free cement had over 90% lower carbon dioxide emissions than ordinary Portland cement.
- July 2022: Holcim signed an agreement with Ol-Trans to acquire its five concrete plants. The acquisition was to strengthen Holcim's local ready-mix concrete network and establish its pole position in Northern Poland. This transaction was expected to also increase the company's sales of ECOPact green concrete, which has up to 50% lower carbon footprint in Poland.
- April 2022: CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. invested in Carbon Upcycling Technologies, a solution that enables the reduction of carbon emissions in cement and concrete production by up to 30% through clinker substitutes. The technology was to help scale the company’s capability to reduce clinker in its cement production process.
- November 2023: CRH agreed on a major deal in Texas two months after moving its primary listing from London to New York. It announced that it bought assets from Martin Marietta for USD 2.1 billion.
- September 2023: Fortera Corporation aimed to fire up as many as seven commercial plants in the next five years with USD 1 billion in financing to fund its aggressive expansion.
- June 2023: Eco Material Technologies, in partnership with Hive 3D, as part of The Casitas @ The Halles project, unveiled the first 3D-printed homes made using almost zero carbon cement. Hive 3D used Eco Material Technologie's green cement called PozzCEM Vite as part of the construction, replacing 100% of Portland cement in concrete.
- March 2023: Holcim Mexico started production of its Fuerte Más reduced-CO2 cement at its cement production units in Macuspana and Tabasco, with a combined rate of production of 60,000 tons per year. The company replaced some of the clinker in the cement with locally sourced minerals from Southeast Mexico, and the new cement now offers 50% reduced carbon dioxide emissions and 10% higher physical performance than ordinary Portland cement.
- November 2022: Titan America LLC announced the full conversion of its cement plants to the production of Type IL portland-limestone cement, a low-carbon construction material. Titan America LLC partnered with customers in New York City, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida to champion the low carbon cement for use in their concrete.
- September 2022: The German building materials company formerly named HeidelbergCement rebranded to Heidelberg Materials.
- February 2022: Holcim and Eni announced the establishment of a collaboration to develop an innovative technology to produce green cement from captured carbon. The partnership involves the creation of a demonstration plant with the aim of testing the reduction of the CO2 footprint of cement and the integration of this innovative solution in cement plants.
- January 2023: The East African Portland Cement (EAPC) revealed plans to expand within the East African Community member countries following its KES 500 million (USD 3424657.50) plant upgrade and the introduction of a new, cheaper Green Triangle cement brand.
- November 2022: East African Portland Cement Plc (EAP) launched a new product named Green Triangle Cement to minimize carbon emissions. In July 2022, the company refurbished its kiln at an investment of KES 0.5 billion (USD 4.11 million), enabling it to produce green cement.
- September 2022: The German building materials company formerly named HeidelbergCement was rebranded as Heidelberg Materials.
- July 2022: Lafarge South Africa, a subsidiary of Holcim Group, launched ECOPact cement, which is a green cement. The product launched by the company is available in variants containing between 30% and 100% less carbon emissions.
- December 2023: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies announced that the partnership contract signed in 2021 with the Center Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB) was extended for a further three years.
- March 2023: Hoffmann Green Cement was granted a Chinese patent for its clay-based H-EVA cement. The company is known for its clinker-free cement products. The company also has a patent for its H-P2A binder, which is among the same family of products offered.
- October 2022: JSW Cement announced its plans to establish an integrated green cement manufacturing facility in Madhya Pradesh with an investment of more than INR 3,200 crore (USD 390 million). The company was expected to also invest in a split grinding unit in Uttar Pradesh. The combined cement production capacity across these units was to be five metric tons per annum (MTPA).
- July 2022: Hallett Group launched its Green Cement Transformation project by breaking into Australia’s cement sector by building an AUD 125 million (USD 84.3 million) cement plant in Port Augusta to supply green cement.
- December 2023: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies announced that the partnership contract signed in 2021 with the Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB) has been extended for a further three years.
- June 2023: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies partnered with Shurfah Holding, wherein Shurfah Holding was to use Hoffmann Green Cement's technology to produce green cement. Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies plans to build four new units to produce its clinker-free green cement in Saudi Arabia, and the construction will begin in 2024.