The British Cement Association responds to the Governments' sustainable construction strategy

British Cement Association logo for press releases

Wednesday, 11, Jun 2008 12:00

The British Cement Association (BCA) today welcomed the government’s newly published Sustainable Construction Strategy and commended Ministers for taking a long term view of the challenges that lie ahead.

BCA members, including Castle Cement, CEMEX UK, Lafarge Cement UK and Tarmac Buxton Lime and Cement highlighted the importance of the need to measure impacts over the life cycle of a building – be it a house, commercial property or public building, as critical to a sustainable built environment. Cement and concrete are essential to economic and social development – they provide the very foundations to modern lives.

According to acting Chief Executive of the BCA, Pal Chana, “that is why concrete is the second most consumed substance on the planet after water. It is essential for our homes, schools, hospitals, roads, bridges and much more.”

Dr Chana added, “It is heartening to see the government working with industry to address climate change mitigation and adaptation through the built environment. On a life cycle basis, cement and concrete can offer many low carbon answers to the issues highlighted in the strategy, such as extreme weather conditions and flooding. Concrete is flood resilient and its natural thermal mass properties can significantly reduce the amount of energy need for heating in the winter and cooling in increasingly hotter summers.”

Dr Chana went on to pay tribute to Mike Gilbert of the BCA who, as the then Chairman of the Construction Products Association’s Sustainable Construction Committee, helped bring about the new holistic strategy that creates a framework for government and industry to work together to improve performance and help society by delivering long life, low carbon, low energy buildings and infrastructure for a more sustainable future.

The BCA looks forward to continuing to play its part in helping the government achieve the objectives set out in the Sustainable Construction Strategy.

ENDS

For further information:

David Pocklington, Director Industry Affairs, British Cement Association: telephone 01276 608710, mobile

07855 263687, e-mail dpocklington@bca.org.uk or

Nicola Pottinger, British Cement Association: telephone 01276 608700, e-mail npottinger@bca.org.uk

Notes to editors:

1. The British Cement Association (BCA) is the trade and research organisation representing the

interests of the United Kingdom’s cement industry in its relations with government, the European

Union and relevant UK organisations. The members of the BCA (Castle Cement, CEMEX UK,

Lafarge Cement UK and Tarmac Buxton Lime and Cement) are the major domestic manufacturers of

Portland cement producing over 90% of the cement sold in the UK.

2. The cement industry has an annual turnover of £775 million and is a major supplier to the construction

industry. It employs around 3,500 people directly with a further 15,000 jobs depending upon its

operations.

Key recent environmental achievements by the UK cement industry:

• Energy use in the cement industry has reduced by 27.5% since 1990 through investment in

both modern kilns and energy efficient technologies;

• This has resulted in a reduction of 29% of carbon dioxide emissions by UK cement

manufacturers since 1990;

• CO2 savings over the same period amounted to over 3.9 million tones;

• In 2006 alone, the cement industry used over 1.1 million tones of waste which would

otherwise have gone to landfill or incineration.

• Other initiatives such as the replacement of primary raw materials and fossil fuels by using

other industries wastes are helping to reduce the cement industry’s overall environmental

impact.

Further information on BCA activities can be downloaded from www.cementindustry.co.uk