The Concrete Centre

In the Summer issue of #ConcreteQuarterly, Allies and Morrison turns heads at the London College of Fashion, David O’Shea gives an Irish distillery a shot of Tadao Ando, the latest advice for using sector EPDs to reduce embodied carbon, and we meet the researchers identifying the best sources of calcined clay https://ow.ly/Z6H950SRU6x

Architecture students - are you ready for a challenge? The Design and Sustainability competition, sponsored by Cordek Ltd, is a nationwide challenge promoting sustainable design with concrete. This year's competition is now open to both undergraduate and post-graduate students of architecture, landscape architecture and the built environment.   Entry is free and gives students a chance to develop essential skills, boost their portfolios and win a cash prize from the £3000 competition prize fund. The brief is aligned to ARB learning outcomes allowing straightforward integration into course curriculum and is accompanied by complementary learning resources such as site plans, photos, videos and reading lists.   The Concrete Centre would like to thank Cordek Ltd for sponsoring the competition and enhancing the experience for all participating students.    Find out more: https://lnkd.in/e6KB8XYt

Transfer slabs can be key to delivering solutions for complex projects, where changes in building grids are necessary to accommodate different uses within a structure. However designers need to be aware of the design challenges to overcome when proposing transfer slabs and there is little guidance currently available.   A group of structural engineering experts led by the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) has compiled a new guide to help building designers, contractors, and assessors better understand the complexities of transfer slabs.   “Design of transfer slabs” has been created by AECOM, IStructE, MPA The Concrete Centre, and Imperial College London, with technical reviews provided by Buro Happold and Simpson TWS.   The guide can be downloaded for free from the IStructE website: https://lnkd.in/eszxXGj6

Need to learn more or want to start using the 2nd generation Eurocode 2? At the end of 2023, BSI formally published the 2nd generation Eurocode 2. Whilst the current Eurocode is the default code for use in the UK until its withdrawal in 2028, there is nothing stopping engineers using the 2nd generation, with appropriate agreements, once the UK National Annex is published. To discuss the changes with The Concrete Centre team who have been involved in the development of the new code, join us at an in person seminar on 7th November. The event will present the expected timescales for National documentation and introduce the principal updates to Eurocode 2, it will then discuss specific new parts of the 2nd generation Eurocode 2 and provide guidance to aid understanding. More information and booking: https://ow.ly/4s3750TX6kp

As The Concrete Centre's 2024 Sustainability Series comes to a close, we would like to thank all the many speakers, delegates and all those who have already benefitted from the resources, new and old, provided on each topic. Week 1 focused on Measuring and Reporting Carbon, https://ow.ly/snis50TOskU; Week 2 on developments within Lower Carbon Concrete Technology, https://ow.ly/O0HP50TOskW; Week 3 invited interaction on Concrete's Role in a Circular Economy https://ow.ly/rYgh50TOskT and this, final, week looked closely at Sustainability - Beyond Carbon https://ow.ly/MqOm50TOskV. All of the resources will remain available and recordings of all of the live events are now online to catch up on. Keep letting us know what technical guidance you need, and we are already looking forward to the next Sustainability Series!

Today’s spotlight for Week 4 of The Concrete Centre’s Sustainability Series, sustainability – beyond carbon is Concrete flood defences Concrete plays a crucial role in protecting homes, businesses and communities from flooding, providing reliable, low maintenance and durable marine and river flood defences. But the nature of these flood defences is evolving. - The Environment Agency has recently been exploring and using lower carbon concrete mixes in its projects. This video shares information on the Environment Agency’s recent use of lower carbon concrete in its projects. https://ow.ly/OQ4A50TOcKG - This year, The Concrete Centre’s design competition for UK students of architecture and the built environment invites submissions for a re-imagined and inhabited tidal flood defences. To find out more about the competition, which is free to enter and has a prize fund of £3000, refer here. https://ow.ly/oyKO50TOcKK - Concrete coastal and river defences are being designed and made, in collaboration with local communities and ecology experts, to incorporate texture to encourage growth of underwater flora and fauna, and to recreate rockpool habitat otherwise lost as sea levels rise. Find out more from this recorded livestream ‘Shaping better places – creating habitat for biodiversity using concrete’ from the Artecology workshop on the Isle of Wight. Also available is this webinar ‘Embracing ecological principles in infrastructure design’ presented by the marine ecologists and concrete manufacturer collaborating on the project for the development of eco-marine concrete mix designs in Wales. https://ow.ly/Xhht50TOcKI https://ow.ly/cLHm50TOcKJ

We at The Concrete Centre are delighted with the announcement last night of The Elizabeth Line as winner of the RIBA Stirling Prize 2024. For more detail of the concrete construction of The Elizabeth Line’s Farringdon Station, just one of the architectural jewels on the line, see this article from Concrete Quarterly summer 2021: Farringdon Station, London. https://lnkd.in/eHtkzNnv

Today’s spotlight for Week 4 of The Concrete Centre’s Sustainability Series, sustainability – beyond carbon is Climate Change Resilience. The inherent resilience of concrete and masonry to the impacts of floods, heatwaves and wild fire hazards provides opportunity to embed effective and passive climate change resilience within our built environment through simple design choices. The Concrete Centre’s new climate change resilience compass has been developed to navigate our evolving resources and design guidance to help designers and other construction professionals make informed decisions for climate-ready development. https://ow.ly/g9TT50TNriF

Today’s spotlight for Week 4 of The Concrete Centre’s Sustainability Series, sustainability -beyond carbon is Health and Wellbeing. Material selection of the building fabric is only one part of the many considerations necessary in the design of buildings to support the health and wellbeing of its occupants. There are, nevertheless some important areas of positive contribution that the use of concrete can provide. - The Healthy, resilient homes and buildings webinar explains the concepts of health and wellbeing, the design strategies that can be adopted using concrete to achieve good health and wellbeing in buildings and communities, and covers topics including provision of good indoor air quality, thermal comfort, flood resilience and biophilic design. https://ow.ly/zEio50TMqGy

Today’s spotlight for Week 4 of The Concrete Centre’s Sustainability Series, ‘Sustainability – beyond carbon’ is concrete’s role in supporting biodiversity and nature. The UK concrete sector, as part of the wider mineral products industry, recognises the importance of the impacts on nature during the manufacture of materials. As a responsible landowner, the industry works closely with bodies including Natural England, the Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB to enhance biodiversity. Around 93% of UK concrete is produced in the UK and mineral quarries continue to build upon an established legacy of supporting nature. In addition, concrete can play an essential role in the integration of green spaces in the built environment. - The Supporting biodiversity and nature using concrete webinar explains the concept of embodied biodiversity and the credentials of the UK’s locally and responsibly sourced concrete. It also demonstrates some of the ways in which concrete supports regenerative design through greater integration of nature in the built environment and innovative concrete eco-engineered for the creation of habitat for biodiversity. https://ow.ly/z49h50TLu5B - The Concrete Centre’s updated Biodiversity Compass collates useful information on concrete’s role in supporting biodiversity. https://ow.ly/g0ZG50TLu5E