News EU bank lends €1bn for green power schemes in ‘empty Spain’ The European Investment Bank (EIB) will lend Spanish utility Naturgy €1bn to increase renewable power generation by 2.3GW, enough to power over a million homes. Naturgy will use the money…
News World Bank lends Mexican developer $301m to build green housing The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank, will lend $301m to a developer in Mexico to build “affordable, green housing”. The loan is going to developer and…
Perspectives Can we use more old buildings to build new ones? Experts’ view We know that the linear way we build now – where materials make a one-way trip from the earth to landfill – is dangerously unsustainable. It assumes too many infinites:…
Innovation Researchers probe rubber roads’ carbon credentials to boost take-up Researchers from the University of Missouri’s College of Engineering have been given a $1.2m grant to develop environmental product declarations (EPDs) for asphalt made with ground rubber tires. Their goal…
News $93m offshore wind auction is ‘much-needed’ boost to Biden’s energy goals The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) yesterday raised nearly $93m in an auction for two lease areas for wind power sites off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland, and…
News Work complete on fully electric Australian hospital An eight-storey, 45,000-sq-m hospital building has been completed at Canberra Hospital, the first in Australia to run fully on electrical power. Built by Australian developer Multiplex, the Critical Services Building…
News Acciona orders hydrogen generator for Madrid building site Spanish contractor Acciona has leased a latest-generation hydrogen fuel cell generator from a UK company to replace diesel engines on a construction project in Madrid. UK fuel-cell developer AFC Energy…
News Making sense of sustainable plant: Latest 21CC podcast Construction firms looking to cut their operational CO2 emissions shouldn’t wait for widespread plant electrification or the advent of green hydrogen because there are many ways to improve plant productivity…
Companies Holcim buys Belgian recycler in quest to ‘build cities from cities’ Swiss cement-maker Holcim has closed the acquisition of Mark Desmedt, a Belgian firm that specialises in the reuse of construction materials. The company said the purchase would advance its goal…
News Helsinki’s first green hydrogen plant to fuel trucks and heat homes Finnish energy company Helen has picked Sweco as engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) partner to build Helsinki’s first green hydrogen plant, called the 3H2 Helsinki Hydrogen Hub. Helen aims…
News Eight construction firms make Time’s first global sustainability ranking Eight companies involved in international construction have made it onto the first Time Magazine-Statista ranking of the world’s 500 most sustainable companies. They include infrastructure builders Eiffage, Webuild, and Ferrovial,…
News World’s first clinker-free wind turbine foundation Hoffmann Green Cement and green energy developer The Valorem Group have poured the world’s first wind turbine foundation made from 0% clinker decarbonised concrete. It’s for the Plaine des Moulins…
News Making Ukraine’s steel sector green would give $77bn boost, Oxford researchers say Researchers from the University of Oxford say rebuilding Ukraine’s steel sector as a zero-emissions one would generate $77bn extra gross value added (GVA) over 20 years compared to restoring the…
News Stefano Boeri Architetti designs Urban Oasis for Bratislava Stefano Boeri Architetti has won a competition to redesign the Chalupkova district in downtown Bratislava, a 3ha former industrial site that has for decades been one of the Slovak capital’s…
News Bamboo firm wins €250,000 bio-material prize Built by Nature, a grant-awarding body backed by charitable foundations, has announced the winners of its inaugural competition to stimulate the use of biologically-based construction materials. The winner of the…
Perspectives Use less stuff. Do more good. Speak up now: A manifesto for construction Like many people, I’ve been concerned about the climate crisis for a long time. But also like many people, I could compartmentalise. Sometimes it’s top of my mind, other times…
News French low-carbon cement firm launches first overseas plant in Saudi Arabia In Saudi Arabia, construction has begun on the first overseas plant for Hoffmann Green Cement, a French start-up selling lower-carbon cement. Founded in 2014 and with €6m in revenues last…
Perspectives Should we just stop building? To mark World Environment Day, this month’s 21CC podcast digs into a complex and difficult question: Should we just stop building? Construction is the single biggest source of greenhouse gases,…