Archive for year: 2021

Reliable colouration of ultra-high-performance concretes thanks to Bayferrox pigments from LANXESS

• Inorganic pigments certified for use in UHPC
  • Enhancing the attractiveness of this sustainable construction material

Ultra-high-performance concretes (UHPCs) are reckoned to be the construction material of the future. When they are coloured, however, you have to ensure that the prescribed compressive strength of more than 150 megapascals is still achieved. The iron oxide pigments from LANXESS’s Bayferrox brand are perfect for UHPCs, as has been verified by the association of German cement manufacturers (VDZ) based on an analysis of compressive strength conducted to DIN EN 12390-3.

“Architects and clients can have every confidence in our high-quality pigments for colouring UHPC,” says Oliver Fleschentraeger, Market Segment Manager Construction of the Inorganic Pigments business unit at LANXESS. The iron oxide pigments come in red, yellow, and black, with numerous colour nuances possible within these shades. “As far as we know, Bayferrox pigments are the only iron oxide pigments on the market that are specially certified for use in UHPC,” says Fleschentraeger.

Pressure-resistant, colourful, and environmentally sound, the quantity of materials used is a key metric when it comes to assessing a building’s carbon footprint. Not only the choice of materials but also the production chain and construction process are also crucial. So to save materials and energy and to reduce CO2 emissions during manufacture, planners and architects are increasingly using highly sophisticated high-performance components made from UHPC. In addition to the enormous resource savings of up to 80%, material-friendly designs reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the manufacturing phase by up to 30%. “A significant and pleasing side effect of UHPC is its high resource efficiency, which makes it easier for engineers to meet the demand for sustainable designs,” says Dr. Michael Olipitz, a certified expert in the fields of superstructure, bridge-building, steel structures and structural engineering, and General Manager of the engineering office SDO ZT GmbH based in Graz, Austria. Inorganic iron oxide pigments can provide long-lasting visual enhancement to these structures or even effectively contextualize them with their surroundings – without affecting the rheology or flow behaviour of the concrete.

 

lanxess.com

 

ZSW launches project for CO2 separation using fabrics

In starting work on the CORA research project, the Centre for So-lar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) in Germany wants to lay the foundations for achieving the climate targets more quickly. CORA – short for CO2 raw material from air – is the name for a technology which is being developed to allow carbon dioxide (CO2) to be extracted from the air and processed. Both industry and environment could benefit from this process. It is not possible to avoid CO2emissions completely, therefore CO2 must be extracted from the atmosphere, stored or used as a raw material in a parallel economical and ecological process. The re-search results should therefore facilitate the replacement of the current fossil carbon sources (crude oil, natural gas and coal) based on the use of air as a renewable and virtually inexhaustible resource. The ZSW has joined forces with the German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF), the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg (ifeu) and Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen to work on this future technology.

The innovative technology for the CO2 separation process is supposed to work by taking CO2 from the atmosphere and separating it from the air with a mat made of cellulose fibres and amines (organic com-pounds) and processing it as a raw material. The question as to whether the mat of fibres being developed by the ZSW Stuttgart with the DITF is the fabric from which a climate-friendly future will be woven remains to be answered in the course of the project.

The cellulose fibres used as the backing material must extract a suffi-ciently large amount of carbon dioxide from the air to be commercially viable. The scientists involved in the project are therefore faced with the challenge of working with a tape of fabric which absorbs and de-sorbs CO2 efficiently. This will run parallel to the development and test-ing of a tape apparatus system which will make it possible to desorb CO2 in different zones of the running tape, and therefore in a continual process, and to make it available in concentrated form. The new pro-cess is being developed with the aim of achieving a noticeable de-crease in the power consumption by dispensing with large air blowers and with a view to obtaining water as well as CO2 during the desorp-tion process.

 

About ZSW

The Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg (Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg, ZSW) is one of the leading institutes for applied research in the areas of photovoltaics, renewable fuels, battery technology, fuel cells and energy system analysis. There are currently around 300 scientists, engineers and technicians employed at the three ZSW sites in Stuttgart, Ulm and Widderstall. In addition, there are 100 research and student assistants. The ZSW is a member of the Innovationsallianz Baden-Württemberg (innBW), a group of 13 independent applied research institutes.

www.zsw-bw.de

 

China is building a massive underground laboratory to research disposal technologies for high-level radioactive waste, the most dangerous by-product of nuclear technology and applications. This is meant to pave the way for a repository that can handle the disposal of at least a century’s worth of such materials for tens of thousands of years.
The lab will be situated in granite up to 560 meters below ground in the Beishan region of Gansu province, said Wang Ju, vice president of the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology. The underground lab was listed as one of China’s major scientific construction projects in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).
Its surface facilities will cover 247 hectares, with 2.39 hectares of gross floor space. The underground complex will have a total structural volume of 514,200 square cubic meters, along with 13.4 kilometers of tunnels, he added.
The lab is estimated to cost over 2.72 billion yuan (£305 million) and take seven years to build. It is designed to operate for 50 years, and if its research proves successful and the site is suitable, a long-term underground repository for high-level waste will be built near the lab by 2050.
Workers began building a water distribution system for the lab on December 28th, and roads to it are set to be paved this year, Wang added. “The lab will provide critical support in the safe geological disposal of high-level waste, which is crucial for the sustainable development of nuclear energy in China.”
In 1985, the same year that China started building its first nuclear reactor, Chinese scientists had already begun researching how to properly dispose of such waste, which includes harmful substances such as strontium-90, cesium-137 and plutonium-239. All three substances are very damaging to animal cells and the environment.
High-level waste management constitutes the end stage of the nuclear fuel cycle, and it is a major challenge for all nuclear countries, as these highly irradiated by-products make up only about 3% of the total volume of nuclear waste, yet can contribute over 95% of the waste’s total radioactivity, according to the World Nuclear Association.
“As China bolsters its nuclear power capacity, the disposal of high-level waste becomes a critical issue for nuclear safety and environmental protection,” Wang said.
According to the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), China seeks to cut carbon emissions by optimizing its energy consumption structure and raising its proportion of non-fossil energy to around 20% in the next few years. Nuclear energy currently makes up about 5% of the total energy China produces.
This includes building a new generation of coastal nuclear plants and expanding the nation’s solar energy generating capacity from about 50 giga watts last year to 70 giga watts by 2025. China will also bolster its ability to process nuclear waste, along with promoting technologies including modular small-scale reactors and offshore floating reactors, the plan said.
As of last year, China had 49 nuclear reactors in operation, making it the world’s third-largest nuclear energy producer, behind the United States and France. There are 16 nuclear reactors in construction in China, the most in the world, according to the World Nuclear Association.
“We cannot just reap the benefits of nuclear energy and worry about cleaning up its waste later. Development and safety are equally important, and both have always been the two paramount priorities in China’s nuclear energy strategy,” Wang said.
At the advent of nuclear technologies, humanity’s disposal of nuclear waste was littered with controversial ideas and short-sighted practices, from early nuclear nations dumping it into the oceans to some scientists proposing launching it into space.
Infamous incident
One of the most infamous incidents came in July 1957, when the U.S. Navy was dumping waste into the sea. Two barrels of radioactive sodium kept floating back to the surface, prompting the Navy to send aircraft to shoot the barrels with machine guns until they sank, The New York Times reported.
The international scientific community eventually agreed that a safe and feasible method to dispose of waste is to permanently bury it deep underground in a tomb of concrete and rock, isolated from all biospheres, natural disasters and human activities for millennia, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
But this requires scientists to comprehensively survey the repository’s environment, both on the surface and underground, this includes investigating the site’s geological conditions, distribution and flow of groundwater, the types, locations and chemistry of rock types and dozens of other factors.
The repository must also be far from populated areas and historical or cultural sites, as well as ecological protection zones, yet it also needs access to infrastructure so that personnel and material can be moved in to build the project.

Wang continued, “Searching for candidate sites alone is already a massive scientific undertaking, let alone building the underground repository, Sweden, France and Finland have also completed their site selection and are applying for or building repositories for high-level waste.
As for China, it took hundreds of scientists and engineers 35 years of drilling boreholes in isolated areas across the country in order to finally decide on the candidate site for the lab in Gansu province.
Fruitful exchanges and long-term collaboration between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the China Atomic Energy Authority played a constructive role in China’s geological disposal of nuclear waste.
I was a young man when I joined the project in 1993. Now people jokingly call me Uncle Wang.
Generations of scientists and engineers have been willing to toil and moil in the desert for this project because everyone knows managing nuclear waste is a solemn undertaking that will have a profound effect on people’s lives, the environment and the nation’s development,
Although living conditions in the field are extremely harsh, we always raise a clean Chinese national flag at our camp to remind ourselves that all the hardship we endure is for the betterment of our country and its people.”

 

Source: The Japan News

 

London’s largest purpose-built rental community – Greenford Quay in the London Borough of Ealing – is ready to be unveiled by leading developer Greystar, one of the main players in the ever-growing Build to Rent (BTR) market.

Greystar has soft-launched the scheme since November 2019, when the first residents moved in, but is now ready to offically reveal the development to the media.

The US-based firm originally entered the European market in 2013 to acquire and develop purpose-built student accommodation and rental housing, and launched the ‘Greystar U.K. Multifamily Fund I’ in May 2019, a new flagship fund series to develop purpose-built rental housing properties in the UK with a target raise of £750 million.

The developer has previously stated its goal of delivering 10,000 BTR units in London by 2022, and the Greenford Quay development on the border of Greenford and Northolt – two historic London suburbs – will ultimately deliver 2,118 new homes overlooking the Grand Union Canal.

With the first building of the development completed in under 19 months, thanks to innovative modular construction methods, Greystar argues it is setting a new standard in the UK ‘for community-led rental properties’ combined with ‘sustainable operational excellence’.

The restored Art Deco building which forms the focal point of the development – known as Tillermans – is made up of 379 apartments (studio, one, two and three-bedroom) and faces onto a landscaped public square, with ‘extensive landscaping and water features’.

The first residents have already moved in and been established in the building for some time, and Greystar says that demand is proving to be strong. So far, existing and prospective residents have singled out the service and security provided by the on-site management team, as well as the attractiveness of Greenford Quay’s various amenities.

Greenford Quay, unlike many other developments in the UK that were originally for sale and then converted into rental housing, was designed specifically with renting in mind from the outset.

Greystar’s in-house team has led this approach, tailoring each new development to meet the needs of prospective tenants. The developer is directly in charge of operating the new community and supporting its residents, with a dedicated on-site team providing customer service that includes management, maintenance, leasing and events services. Various events have already been held for residents and the local community, while street food vendors have occasionally appeared in the landscaped public areas.

Greenford Quay is aiming to become a new destination and established community with regular on-site family-friendly events.

Todd Marler, senior director of multifamily operations in UK & IE at Greystar, said: “Greenford Quay is a significant milestone for Greystar in Europe, as it is the first development we have overseen from inception to delivery. There is a severe shortage of high-quality homes across our major cities and we are delivering a professionally managed solution that we hope will open people’s eyes to the long-term benefits of renting, particularly in the UK.”

Paul Naylor, community manager at Greenford Quay, added: “Greenford Quay has been thoughtfully designed to build a sense of community by fostering interactions inside and outside the buildings. It is a delight to see our on-site team interacting with our new residents – together helping to bring the development to life. Our aim is to provide a level of service that renters rarely experience in the UK, but certainly deserve. The flexibility we provide is appealing to residents, as they can enjoy one of our secure, high-quality homes and all the benefits of our lively community for as long as they want.”

What was there before?

Greenford Quay is the redevelopment of the 20-acre waterfront site previously occupied by GlaxoSmithKline and the Sunblest Bakery. For a long while before the development began, the area had been neglected, half-derelict and overgrown, with numerous disused buildings serving no obvious purpose.

After many years of speculation about what the area would be turned into – including talks of a cinema complex or shopping centre – Greystar acquired the sites in January 2016 and consulted extensively with Ealing Council, the Greater London Authority, local businesses, residents and other stakeholders to develop proposals for modern canal-side living in the heart of Greenford, bringing the derelict site back to life.

The finished development is set to provide a new health centre, primary school, shops and restaurants that, once complete, ‘will benefit the neighbouring community’, while also playing a part in addressing London’s housing shortage.

Work on the first building began in June 2018 and was finished 19 months later – with the speed of the build possible thanks to the innovative methods of construction used.

The entire development is set to be completed far quicker than a ‘for sale’ scheme, following the decision to deliver it using modular methods in partnership with Tide Construction.

The ‘high-quality’ residential units are largely built off-site and slotted into the buildings, which significantly reduces construction time, with a reduction of up to 80% of typical construction traffic on-site.

This, in turn, lessens the disruption to local residents and the building’s carbon footprint through greatly minimising the construction waste normally generated.

What does Greenford offer?

One of London’s most popular commuter towns, Greenford is surrounded by Northolt, Wembley, Perivale and Harrow and is arguably best known for its Central Line tube station. This station sits in Zone 4, with Zone 1 accessible in 20 minutes and Westfield London in Shepherd’s Bush even closer than that.

Pre-Covid, Greenford station was topping four million annual entries and exits and, as well as Underground services on the Central Line, it is also the terminus of the National Rail Greenford Branch Line.

Greenford Quay is about a seven-minute walk from the station and aims to offer the best of town and country life. It is surrounded by nature and only a short stroll from the ancient woodland at Horsenden Hill and Paradise Fields – a rich natural habitat famous for grassland, ponds, reed beds, lagoons and wildflower meadows.

The area surrounding Greenford Quay is a mixture of nature, residential and industrial, with the open land of Greenford originally attracting various renowned British industries that also benefitted from the railway and canal in terms of trade and connectivity.

With a past rooted in wheat and tea – the area was previously home to Tetley’s headquarters and Lyons’ factories, as well as bread-making facilities – Greystar is aiming to reimagine the site for modern 21st-century living.

*All images courtesy of Greystar and Billy Bolton

Source: Property Investor Today

As the construction industry looks to power the post-Covid economic recovery, a new report by Turner and Townsend highlights that embedding sustainability strategies will be critical to strengthening the supply chain and achieving the country’s net zero targets.

The global professional services business’ latest UK Market Intelligence Report (UKMI) shows a cautiously positive outlook for the construction industry tempered by risks of inflationary pressure. But core to the sector’s medium and long term success will be how it deals with the need to decarbonise and build back greener.

The report argues that a concerted effort by the industry to focus on decarbonisation will not only support the environmental imperative to reach net zero, but it will also create a commercial case to do so too.

Looking specifically at the residential sector, the report suggests that there will be large scale options for cost neutral net zero retrofit schemes by the end of 2023. The challenge must be for new housing schemes to achieve the same targets where the marginal cost will effectively be nil, creating a major scale-up in delivery.

 

 

The UKMI also assesses the forward outlook for inflation. Showing that while inflationary pressure was balanced in 2020, with deflationary constraints on demand and construction activity offsetting the productivity impediments of social distancing and rising material costs, 2021 is due to tip towards inflation.

This is down to the expected increase in construction activity this year – though predicted demand is not evenly spread. High government infrastructure spending is behind Turner & Townsend’s prediction of a 1.5 percent increase in infrastructure tender prices in 2021 (up from 1.0 percent in 2020). But for real estate tender prices, a 0.0 percent inflation rate is expected (up from -2) as new orders remain weaker.

On its own, a quick uptick in inflation in an era of fragile finances could frustrate a build back better recovery, but the fragility of the wider supply chain and an industry still heavily propped up by government support are also cause for concern. With demand and output both set to increase, clients must therefore closely monitor their exposure to further supply chain disruption, insolvencies and cost increases. Resilience and capacity can be built into the supply chain with the right investment and innovation into green technologies, retrofitting and sustainable building to capitalise on the business opportunity around net zero.

Michael Grace, director in the Leeds office of Turner & Townsend, said: “The construction industry has a pivotal role to play in delivering a net zero carbon future in Yorkshire. We need to drive change, working with our customers and the supply chain to deliver sustainable outcomes.”

Source: The Business Desk