Heidelberg Materials Australia announced on Monday it has entered into a conditional purchase agreement to acquire Midway Concrete, expanding its presence in the Melbourne and Geelong markets. Midway Concrete operates four plants in Laverton, Craigieburn, Melton and Lara, and has built a reputation for quality products and customer service over its 23-year history. Phil Schacht,…
Lightweight timber-cardboard construction panels developed at University of Queensland’s School of Civil Engineering offer a promising solution in temporary housing for displaced people, according to the university. According to a statement from UQ on Wednesday, the panels are the subject of a new paper in the journal Structures, and come with benefits including reduced cost…
MCi Carbon has announced its fourth piece of funding from a Japanese investor, with Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corporation (MUCC) taking a $US 5 million (approximately $8 million) stake in the carbon capture and reuse technology startup. In a statement on Wednesday, MCi said the current fundraising round of over $US20 million ($32 million) was committed…
An innovation developed at RMIT University has been used for the first time in a major infrastructure project, with coffee concrete being laid into a footpath along a busy road in Pakenham as part of Victoria’s Big Build. Major Road Projects Victoria (MRPV) and project contractor BildGroup used concrete mixed with biochar made from spent…
Engineers at RMIT University have designed an innovative tubular structural system that can be packed flat for easier transport and pop up into strong building materials. This breakthrough is made possible by a self-locking system inspired by curved-crease origami — a technique that uses curved crease lines in paper folding. Lead researchers, Dr Jeff (Ting-Uei)…
Building materials company Boral is developing a lower-carbon concrete product using calcined clay as an alternative supplementary cementitious material (SCM.) The has announced that it is leading a two-year SmartCrete CRC-backed project, also involving the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Transport for NSW, and industrial process specialist Calix, aimed at “further demonstrate the technical feasibility…
Brisbane’s Rino Recycling is trumpeting the success of its $95 million fully automated recycling plant at Pinkenba that turns construction and demolition waste into material for new infrastructure projects. Rino major projects manager Mat Stafford took to social media to reveal that the plant processed 17,386 tonnes of construction and demolition waste in a week…
Building-integrated photovoltaics company ClearVue Technologies has secured its inaugural contract in Australia for its energy efficient, electricity generating commercial windows. The Perth company said it had received the order from construction company Kapitol Group for a new commercial building project for the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, and Employees Union (CFMEU) in Melbourne. The CFMEU will incorporate…
RMIT University and Visy have partnered up to develop energy-efficient bricks, which switch out clay for recycled materials and show promise in boosting energy-efficiency. The new bricks contain a minimum of 15 per cent waste glass and 20 per cent combusted solid waste (ash), as substitutes for clay, according to a statement from RMIT University…
Australian researchers have investigated adding graphene oxide to cement, resulting in concrete that works better as a 3D printing material, according to a statement from RMIT University. Engineers from RMIT and University of Melbourne found that addition of the nanomaterial increased the strength of concrete by as much as 10 per cent and made it…
