Imagine the city of the future, with state-of-the-art buildings, infrastructure, industry and buildings built sustainably with people’s social and economic wellbeing top of mind.
Sustainable, circular, energy-efficient, resilient and smart.
The good news? All of this is possible now, as forward-thinking cities pioneer transformative solutions to the challenges of our time.
With our vision to be the leading partner for sustainable construction, Â鶹´«Ã½ sees five opportunities to build the NextGen cities of the future, enabled by our sustainable building solutions, and build progress for people and the planet.
#1 SUSTAINABLE BUILDING
To build the sustainable, resilient cities of tomorrow, forward-looking city leaders are increasingly turning to low-carbon building materials and solutions.
±á´Ç±ô³¦¾±³¾â€™s ECOPact low-carbon concrete reduces embodied carbon emissions by at least 30% compared to standard (CEM I) concrete without offsets.
From ECOPact and ECOPlanet low-carbon cement to Ytong and Hebel autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) and more - a wide range of Â鶹´«Ã½ brands are also backed by Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).
These independently verify claims on everything from the construction phase to use and end-of-life scenarios to meet the ambitious sustainability goals of city-shaping projects.
Â鶹´«Ã½ can even provide digital, on-demand EPDs within minutes for existing and future project concrete mixes. This third-party verified data allows us to work with customers from tender through to design and construction, to optimize mixes and report on sustainability performance.
At the same time, cities can explore the latest solutions for sustainable construction to help meet their climate neutrality goals. At Â鶹´«Ã½, we constantly innovate to develop low-carbon or near-zero carbon building solutions, and we aim to offer over 8 million tons of near-zero cement per year.
NORTH EAST LINK
North East Link is a major infrastructure project project designed to complete the missing link in Melbourne's orbital freeway network and change the way people move around the city. Â鶹´«Ã½ is supplying up to 400 000 m3 of ECOPact low-carbon concrete for the project, nearly half of its total requirement.
#2 circular BUILDING
To construct the buildings, infrastructure and industry that we all need in a way that works for people and the planet, cities across the world have an opportunity to accelerate circular construction.
Circular construction reimagines how urban spaces are designed, built and decommissioned. At its core, it keeps materials in use for as long as possible and designs for disassembly at the city level – integrating resource efficiency across the lifecycle of a project, which can then be reused or recycled.
Â鶹´«Ã½ has set a target of recycling over 20 million tons of construction demolition materials (CDM) by 2030. In key metropolitan areas worldwide, we're working with cities to accelerate circular construction and upcycle CDM into sustainable building solutions using our ECOCycle circular technology.
LAKESIDE OFFICE COMPLEX
Lakeside office complex was built using ECOPact low-carbon concrete. This contains cement that uses recycled mineral insulation wool recovered from CDM as a limestone substitute.
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The Recygénie housing complex in Paris, France, with ·¡°ä°¿°ä²â³¦±ô±ð®, is the world’s first building built using fully recycled concrete. As a result, 6 000 tons of primary materials were saved, and the project won the 2023 Reuters Responsible Business Award for Circular Transition.
#3 ENERGY-EFFICIENT BUILDING
Towns and cities are responsible for approximately 75% of global primary energy consumption. By designing and retrofitting buildings with advanced thermal insulation and roofing systems to improve energy efficiency, we have a unique opportunity to speed up the transition to NextGen cities of the future.
With 80% of current buildings and infrastructure still expected to be in use by 2050, the market for energy-efficient repair and refurbishment is thriving.
Here, Â鶹´«Ã½ is supporting the energy-efficient cities of the future, with cost-effective, modular systems that ensure high thermal efficiency - meaning building stay warmer in winter and cooler in summer - as well as reduce energy costs for residents and businesses.
BELGRADE WATERFRONT
In the 1.26 million m² Belgrade Waterfront project, many of the residential buildings plus as well as the iconic Kula Belgrade tower use Ytong AAC autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks and Multipor mineral insulation panels, to provide exceptional thermal insulation.
WASL TOWER
Dubai's Wasl Tower was built using ´¡¾±°ù¾±³Ü³¾Â®, our innovative mineral insulating foam, to improve the building’s energy efficiency and simplify construction systems and processes.
LES TRÈFLES
Les Trèfles school in Anderlecht, Belgium, is built following the passive house approach, a model for sustainable design and superior energy performance. Elevate’s UltraPly™ TPO roofing system provides maximum energy efficiency and provides a durable foundation for a 7,000 m2 green roof.
#4 RESILIENT BUILDING
Serving as a major carbon sink, the land and oceans of our planet absorb more than half of all greenhouse gas emissions. Nature helps keep our cities cooler during heat waves, and serves as a natural stormwater management system during periods of heavy rainfall.
Â鶹´«Ã½ solutions help cities become more resilient. Combining advanced materials with nature-positive solutions – including green roofs, permeable concrete that absorbs rainfall and shore protection systems – they equip cities to withstand more extreme weather and improve people’s quality of life, now and in generations to come.
BUILDING RESILIENT CITIES
Floods can damage property and critical public infrastructure, and displace people. Â鶹´«Ã½ offers a wide range of innovative solutions to avoid flooding and improve cities’ water management capabilities:
Hydromedia permeable concrete enables ultra-rapid evacuation of water directly into the soil, rapidly absorbing rainwater off streets, parking surfaces, driveways and walkways – reducing flood risks.
Humes' HumeFilter Universal Pollutant Trap (UPT), and HumeFilter® Mini, a compact stormwater treatment system, are part of our portfolio of precast stormwater management solutions, which cover drainage, detention, treatment, harvesting and reuse.
Elevate’s EPDM lining solutions, such as GeoSmart and PondEasy, are designed for water storage and usage.
BRINGING NATURE INTO CITIES
±á´Ç±ô³¦¾±³¾â€™s innovative solutions help cities create green spaces to make them more liveable, providing benefits including improved air quality, a reduced heat island effect, better improved mental and physical health and more biodiversity.
ZinCo green or vegetative roofs help control temperatures and combat the urban heat island effect.
Hydromedia permeable concrete helps bring greenery into urban areas. With its permeable properties, it allows direct rainwater infiltration over urban surfaces, allowing us to create urban forests without irrigation.
´¡°ù³Ù±ð±¹¾±²¹Â® decorative concrete has a highly reflective coloring to increase the albedo quality of the surface and reduce the heat island effect.
KAKTUS TOWERS
The BIG-designed Kaktus Towers twist at each level to provide unique perspectives for each of the 495 residences. Rising 80 m high, the buildings sit on an elevated green plateau created using ZinCo’s green roofing systems.
JURONG LAKE GARDENS
Jurong Lake Gardens is one of Singapore's newest national gardens, a 90-hectare urban oasis for the community. Elevate’s PondGard EPDM membrane was used to waterproof the pond.
A BLUEPRINT FOR COASTAL RESILIENCE
By the end of the century, 410 million people in coastal communities could be at risk of coastal flooding and rising sea-levels. Â鶹´«Ã½ offers resilient solutions for the coastal engineering, river protection and infrastructure construction segments.
Our Basalton shore protection system for coast and revetment areas provides stabilization and erosion control.
Xbloc is a coastal breakwater armor system using Â鶹´«Ã½ low-carbon concrete solutions such as ECOPact, which also incorporates recycled construction demolition materials.
AIR-ENHANCING CONCRETE
Cities suffer the most from air pollution, which impacts health and the environment.
Â鶹´«Ã½ has an innovative new draining and depolluting concrete that can help transform urban landscapes.
Hydromedia with air-enhancing technology contains special additives to remove pollutants from the air, such as nitrogen oxides.
#5 SMART BUILDING
Advancing digital automation and smart design will be vital as we build the cities of the future. An urban planning revolution has just begun, with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) allowing us to use generative design to plan more sustainable, optimized urban landscapes.
At the same time, smart design allows for more accurate planning and optimized resource use, unlocking significant CO2 and material savings.
Cities around the world can benefit from these innovative technologies, which are making sustainable construction more accessible and effective than ever before – for buildings, infrastructure and industry.
SMART BUILDING INNOVATIONS
We make this possible with proprietary technologies:
3D printing can reduce material use by up to 50%, with no compromise in terms of performance, while significantly lowering a building or structure’s carbon footprint. With our TectorPrint mortar, we can unlock freedom of design and form, and achieve time, cost and material savings, as well as sustainability benefits.
DYNAMax high-performance concrete delivers high strength, outstanding durability and superior rigidity to optimize usable space and build longer-lasting buildings.
Carbon pre-stressed concrete (CPC) slabs are thin, light precast plates made of high-strength concrete reinforced with prestressed carbon fibers, which have the same load-bearing capacity as standard concrete slabs. They use up to 80% less material with up to 75% lower CO2 emissions, and are circular by design.
DIGITAL CONCRETE SERVICES
Using our digital concrete services, we can deliver structures that are built faster, last longer and are more sustainable.
SMARTCast speeds up the construction process with sensors installed in concrete to measure its temperature and assess its strength in real time.
SMARTFLOW uses a digital simulation to measure concrete flowability, reducing cost as well as delays, and supporting sustainability by removing the need for real-size trials.
SMARTTherm simulates concrete’s temperature development to reduce cost, mitigate risk and optimize its thermal profile.
HOLCIM+ AI-POWERED PLATFORM
HOLCIM+ is an intuitive, AI-powered platform dedicated to cement, aggregates and asphalt. Empowering our customers to take control, it makes it easier than ever before to manage orders, deliveries and projects with transparency and efficiency at every step.
Digital precision with blue.sprint
Blue.sprint is our comprehensive digital service that links 3D building models using AI and Building Information Modelling (BIM) to digitally managed factory production, ensuring just-in-time onsite delivery and smart building.
COSMOPOLITAN SKYLINE TOWER
The Cosmopolitan Skyline Tower was built with DYNAMax, Â鶹´«Ã½'s ultimate high-performance concrete. Its high strength, outstanding durability and superior rigidity enables the construction of thinner cross-sections for columns, walls and slabs - unlocking more usable space and freedom of design in cities.
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ViliaSprint², a 12-unit residential building, was finished in just 12 months using ±á´Ç±ô³¦¾±³¾â€™s 3D printing technology. and TectorPrint advanced 3D concrete "ink". Realized by social housing developer Plurial Novilia and partners, it now stands as the largest 3D-printed residential project in Europe.
3D printing helps us address the housing gap with structures that can be rapidly built using less material – in this case high-performance synthetic macro-fibers to handle floor loads, wind and thermal stress, and replace reinforced concrete – while offering total design freedom.
GRÃœZE INNOVATION LAB
Working with the Swiss city of Winterthur, Â鶹´«Ã½ pioneered the use of carbon prestressed concrete (CPC) to build the award-winning Grüze Innovation Lab. This 120-m² pavilion opened in 2024, and serves as an information center, event location and workshop for sustainable construction.
