Urban construction requires high-strenth concrete and reinforcement solution for demanding projects like highrise buildings or infrastructure projects where the concrete has to withstand high pressures. In recent years, Sika has expanded its presence in the fast-growing concrete reinforcing fiber market, with several acquisitions and investments in new production lines.
Sika is starting operations at a plant in Doha, Qatar, for the production of concrete admixtures. The country on the east coast of the Arabian peninsula is an attractive market thanks to large-scale infrastructure investment and a number of mega projects, both ongoing and planned.
Sika Peru has opened new headquarters in the metropolitan area of Lima and introduced a modern plant for the production of concrete admixtures, mortar products, and acrylic liquid applied membranes (LAM). With this new plant, Sika is tripling its production capacities and strengthening its market position in Peru.
Sika has acquired the global Concrete Fibers business from Propex Holding, LLC, which includes a US plant manufacturing synthetic fibers for use in concrete reinforcement, sales operations in Sika's three geographical regions, and a strong brand. The acquired business is a perfect addition to Sika's concrete systems for high value-added solutions required in the construction of high-rise buildings and demanding infrastructure projects. The acquired business generates annual sales of CHF 30 million.
Sika is expanding its presence in Kazakhstan and strengthening its position in two of the country's growth regions. To reinforce existing production operations in Almaty in the southeast of the country, Sika is simultaneously commissioning two further concrete admixture production plants, one in the capital Astana and the other in Atyrau in the west.
“I began my research after questioning how, despite advances in concrete research, little has changed over the last years around the way we design and build our infrastructure”, Ioanna said. “Developments in nanomaterials and nanotechnology create many opportunities for developing truly biomimetic infrastructure with self-diagnosing and healing capabilities.”
Sika is developing its operations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the opening of a new factory in Dubai. An existing production facility for concrete admixtures has been relocated to the new site and expanded. A state-of-the-art mortar facility and a reactor for producing polymers have been installed and will constitute the basis for the production of high-performance concrete admixtures. Furthermore, the new facility will play a strategic role as a sales and distribution center for the region.
Sika is continuing to expand its production capacity in West Africa with the opening of a concrete admixture factory in Senegal. The new plant is the first in the country and will be further expanded with the addition of a mortar production facility in due course. With a total of 19 national subsidiaries and 20 factories, Sika has a strong presence in Africa.
With the opening of a new facility near Houston, Sika is further expanding its presence in the fast-growing US market.
The Flemish-Dutch Scheldt Commission (Vlaams-Nederlandse Scheldecommissie, VNSC, a partnership between the Netherlands and Flanders for jointly managing the Scheldt estuary) has commissioned the Sassevaart joint venture the contract to construct a new lock at Terneuzen. The contract value is more than €753 million. The Sassevaart joint venture consists of BAM (the Dutch and Belgian sister companies BAM Infra and BAM Contractors), DEME (DEME Infra Marine Contractors B.V. and Dredging International N.V.) and the Belgian contractor Algemene Aannemingen Van Laere N.V.
Thirty years of experience allowed CBE Group to become one of the major operators in the tunnel industry in 2017, active on every continent, with more than 480 projects achieved. CBE Group is now the worldwide leader in the production of moulds and automated plants for tunnel segments.
The world's longest road and rail tunnel will require a factory that, in terms of its size, is set to be a record-breaker. The Fehmarnbelt immersed tunnel between Rødbyhavn in Denmark and Puttgarden in Germany will be 18 km long and built from 79 concrete elements and an additional 10 special elements equipped with lower basements for maintenance. Each tunnel element will weigh more than 70,000 tonnes. Each element will be about 217 m long and about 40 m wide.
LKAB Minerals sells 1.3 million tonnes of the iron ore product MagnaDense to Wasco Coatings Europe GmbH. Wasco will use MagnaDense in the production of high density concrete, to coat the pipes for Nord Stream 2.
Farringdon diamond ceiling manufactured in Derbyshire, precast segments for Liverpool Street manufactured in Nottinghamshire
Sika is opening a new mortar production facility at Coatzacoalcos in southeast Mexico. The new plant will also take over the manufacture of concrete admixtures from the previous production site at Villahermosa. Through its five factories, Sika has now established a nationwide supply chain. With a population of 120 million, Mexico has one of the largest domestic markets in Latin America and is investing heavily in infrastructure expansion.
Situated right outside of Glenwood, MN, 36 miles away from Hancock Concrete’s headquarters, the Glenwood Pit is the source of rock product for the company’s concrete production. Hancock Concrete, which turns 100 years old this year, designs and fabricates precast concrete box culverts, round and arch pipe, manhole structures, and bridges. In 2011, the company was acquired by nearby Superior Industries, located in Morris, MN. Superior, a manufacturing company founded in 1972 by Neil Schmidgall, engineers and builds bulk material processing and handling equipment and machinery components.
As of 1 February 2017, Björn Koorem will be President of LKAB Berg & Betong AB, a subsidiary group wholly own by LKAB. Among other things, the group provides contracting services in rock reinforcement and drifting, produces and delivers concrete and blasting agents, processes and hauls waste rock and minerals, and provides engineering, construction and maintenance services for LKAB and external customers.
The LPT contract saw the jv partners tunnelling for some 32km under the capital, creating what client National Grid describes as an ‘electricity superhighway’ for high-voltage cables to provide increased resilience for the city’s power supplies. When all aspects of the project are complete in 2018, it will help ensure that London’s growing demand for power can be met over the coming years.
The contract involved driving three major new tunnels under London, linking Hackney in the east with Willesden in the west and Wimbledon to the south, with 14 shafts along the route providing access from street level. This represented the longest single tunnelling contract ever let to a single contractor in London.
Following the recent announcement of the opening of Datchet Quarry CDE is delighted to announce a partnership with Cemex to deliver a further three new sand and aggregates washing projects across the Midlands and South of England. Over the four projects Cemex is making a substantial investment to further strengthen their UK aggregates operations. To date two projects are complete with another two to commission before the end of 2016.
With its state-of-the-art technologies, Sika is making a significant contribution to challenging infrastructure projects. In large-scale projects top technologies are essential to ensure that concrete shows the required performance and can be properly processed. The Ulu Jelai hydroelectric power plant in Malaysia is a major project that has been realized with Sika products.