Page 26 - Hub-4 Magazine Issue 80
P. 26

  Concrete Review
Building a better future
for tunnelling
Mike May, Cemex’s European Sales Manager for Mortars, discusses the growing demand for end-to-end sprayed concrete lining solutions, a recent complex refurbishment of Scotland’s Mullardoch Tunnel and the introduction of lower carbon sprayed concrete...
The demand for new sprayed concrete lining has increased dramatically in recent years with major new tunnelling projects in the airport, rail, hydro and power generation industries. Amongst this growth remains a steady flow of complex and bespoke tunnel maintenance and refurbishment programmes which are ongoing across the UK.
Cemex is committed to providing collaborative end-to-end solutions covering many phases of the tunnelling process. Central to this is our aim to develop and offer reliable, efficient and more sustainable solutions for the tunnelling industry that are fully cogniscent of the needs of our customers and end-users. Our partnerships focus on innovation through collaboration, to capitalise on multiple areas of expertise to support each stage of the project.
Sustainable urban spaces
Tunnelling is an extremely specialist and performance-critical industry. Along with the importance of identifying the correct concrete mix and equipment, the nature of tunnelling in high- profile environments comes with its own set of unique challenges, requiring complex and well-planned solutions.
As urban areas become more dense and open spaces increasingly unavailable, in part due to continuous population growth, tunnelling and underground infrastructure requires a more creative, yet equally robust approach, to develop the space available into sustainable urbanised landscapes. There is a growing requirement to futureproof the resilience of cities from the impact of climate change, alongside the need to reduce visual, environmental and noise impacts, by minimising disturbance to surfaces. And all of this, whilst embracing the critical need for communities to be connected through people-orientated transportation systems and infrastructure.
Lower Carbon Sprayed Concrete
Our lower carbon sprayed concrete, part of our family of Vertua products and solutions, has a carbon embodiment of 23% below our industry renowned “Bank Mix” Silo Sprayed concrete, making it an ideal solution for constructors of large- scale tunnelling projects where the necessity to develop new infrastructure needs to be balanced against the environmental impact. The Cemex Specialist Solutions Lower Carbon Sprayed Concrete is only the first step in our ambitious aim to supply the tunnelling industry with more sustainable products. The introduction of our lower carbon sprayed concrete as our core product achieves the first phase objective. Our next aim is to produce a sprayed concrete with a target carbon embodiment reduction of up to 40%.
The Vertua lower carbon product symbol is awarded to selected cement and other products characterised by their unique raw material composition, which contains the highest quality ingredients to reduce the carbon footprint of the finished product.
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www.hub-4.com May/June - Issue 80
    




















































































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