SD Vision - Halyps Cement

Sustainable
Development
Magazine 2010
10
www.italcementigroup.com
sdVision
Global
Technological
innovation is the
key factor for
a sustainable and
competitive growth.
Projects
Italcementi Group’s
mission is to create value
in the building sector
through the innovative
and sustainable use of
natural resources.
News
Today cementitious
materials need
to be flexible to meet
the most various types of
applications and design.

THROUGH
SUSTAINABLE LIVING
INNOVATION
Italcementi is the holding company of an organisation that combines the expertise, know-how and
cultures of 22 countries in 4 continents boasting an industrial network of 59 cement plants, 15
grinding centres, 5 terminals, 373 concrete batching units and 92 aggregates quarries. A world leader
in the production and distribution of cement with sales amounting to over 5 billion Euro and more than
21,000 people employed worldwide. As a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable
Development (WBCSD), Italcementi Group participates into the Cement Sustainability
Initiative, one of the largest global sustainability programmes ever undertaken by a single industry
sector. Italcementi has been included in “The Sustainability Yearbook 2010” the most comprehensive
publication on corporate sustainability released yearly by SAM (Sustainable Asset Management).
www.italcementigroup.com

Sustainable Development
Magazine 2010 n. 1
Published by Italcementi SpA,
Via Camozzi 124
24121 Bergamo - Italy
Issued jointly with Italcementi
Group’s Annual Report on
Sustainable Development
Editorial Project:
Global Trends srl, Milano - Italy
Graphic Design:
Tram19, San Gimignano - Italy
Global
sdVision
Sustainable Development Magazine 2010
Eco-innovation for the new growth Carlo Pesenti 3
Environmental sustainability
for higher quality of urban life
Sylvie Faucheux 4
Green and social must go together André-Yves Portnoff 9
Productivity of resource utilisation:
a new challenge for business
Vittorio Terzi 13
Projects Our fl ag for innovation: i.nova Sergio Crippa 16
– Groupbook 17
A new Department to foster Italcementi
Group’s commitment to Innovation
Eco-innovation within Italcementi Group
– New products for sustainable building
– Eco-effi cient processes for cement manufacturing
News New applications for cementitious materials
www.italcementigroup.com
– Unibéton self-compacting concretes are adaptable to different solutions
– With Effi x Design ® , Ciments Calcia opens up
a wide scope for creative expression
– Photocatalytic Cementitious Pavements
– Partnership agreement with the University of Malaga
for a new Chair for Innovation
– MATREC: the value of building material waste
– Meeting customer needs with Coloured and Filter concrete
On the cover:
Italian Pavilion, EXPO 2010, Shanghai
Enrico Borgarello 18
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26
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28
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Eco-innovation
for the new growth
The cold wind of crisis affecting world markets over the past year has yet to subside. Timid
signs of sporadic growth across the global economic scene could be deceiving: Americans are
spending less as they focus on saving money, overall Western consumer confi dence is low,
and the fi nancial capitals are still limited while becoming more expensive. So, even though recovery
appears just around the corner, in reality it is likely to be still a long way off. But what should we
expect besides the emergency policies put into practice by governments and companies to counter
short-term diffi culties? Once again we must keep focused, and ensure that our long-term vision
remains concentrated on the «long term». Bearing this in mind, we cannot simply aim for a return
to normality or even worst, adjust to a slow and inevitable decline. This crisis could be a unique
opportunity for structural change in our present economic system, possibly re-directing resources
towards the industrial sector and striking the right balance between industry and fi nance. Now
is the right time to design and pursue a new and different concept of growth, one that ensures
compatibility of environmental, individual and social needs. Now is the time to launch a green
economy that is not only «green», but also addresses the pressing need for ethics in business and
widespread social responsibility. This may only be fulfi lled by truly re-gaining consumer trust. So,
there is no time left for abstract principles, we need to act. In recent years Italcementi Group has
based its action and its competitive strategy around the core principles of sustainable development,
in effect pursuing the triple objective of economic, environmental and social bottom-line. We are
not offering a fairytale vision of the role of industries, yet we are convinced that, even for a process
industry such as ours, growth is closely linked to a careful assessment and fulfi llment of the real needs
of all stakeholders. The cement industry is energy intensive, capital intensive and CO 2 intensive. We
must not wait for the results of international negotiations on the global climate to acknowledge
our responsibilities and to understand that our future competitiveness in the global markets will
largely depend on energy effi ciency and emission reduction. Our challenges in the use of natural
resources are also very well known. Continued tension between industrialized and developing
countries will drive us towards an increasingly rational use of natural resources, with a renewed
attention towards water. For our Group all this means an evermore crucial pursuit of product
and process innovation. Products which are more compatible with environmental requirements.
Products and processes that limit the use of non-renewable resources. All our efforts are directed
towards this goal, with the idea that technological innovation is the key factor for a sustainable and
competitive growth. We can provide an important contribution. We are working not only on new
products with reduced environmental impact during the production stage, but on products capable
of enhancing the environmental and energy performance of building they are used in. On the one
hand, as a major player in the process industry, we reduce our own impact on the environment,
on the other we contribute to the new horizon of sustainable living. Mankind is moving towards
Megalopolis, this is the objective of the great migrations of the third millennium. Industrialized
countries, no longer linked to the framework of a purely quantitative growth, must offer the
developing countries a new industrial growth model based on quality: environmental, social and
human. Humanizing Megalopolis by making it environmentally sound and energy effi cient is one
of the great challenges of our present and immediate future.
Carlo Pesenti
Chief Executive Offi cer
Italcementi Group
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4
Global
Environmental sustainability
for a higher quality of urban life
We need to work and invest with a sense of urgency for the sake
of our environmental quality and our international competitiveness.
As an international expert on sustainable
economic development and related
policies, Professor Sylvie Faucheux has
led for more than twenty years programmes of
economic research respecting the environment
and social equity. She has acquired a worldwide
expertise in the areas of eco-innovation with
more than 150 publications in English and French
on sustainable development and climate change.
She created and led the Center for Economics
and Ethics for the Environment and Sustainable
Development and Fondaterra (European Institute
for Sustainable Development). Sylvie Faucheux
is the editor of the International Journal of
Sustainable Development. She is President of the
University Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
since 2002, and Professor in Economics at that
University since 1990. She is also a Knight in the
Ordre des Palmes Academiques and Knight in
the National Order of Merit. sdVision has asked
to Professor Faucheux her point of view on ecoinnovation
as a key factor for the future of a
more sustainable world.
The economic recovery seems to be under
way, but slower than expected. In this
situation, many think that governments
and companies should focus more on their
economic than on their environmental
issues. Others think that the green economy
Interview with Sylvie Faucheux
President Versailles Saint Quentin University
might be the driver of future growth. What
is your opinion?
The green economy is the driver of the future
growth we need: sustainable growth which
recognizes that we are in the midst of a
necessary transition to low-carbon economies.
Whether one looks to an increasing scarcity of
fossil fuel resources, to the effects of climate
change, or to other factors, it is increasingly clear
that responsible governments and societies must
act now to change the basis of their economies.
Now is the time to make a virtue out of necessity,
something we have done very well in the past
and are well-equipped to do now as the skills
and technology of the knowledge economy are
brought to bear on the opportunity and demand
of the emerging green economy.
What do you think should be the role of
public policies in a perspective where the
green economy represents a key factor for
economic and social development?
Public policies are a key driver of green growth,
from eco-innovation R&D policies encouraging
collaboration between public and private sector
actors, to public procurement policies creating
markets for eco-innovators, and on to introduction
of performance standards which encourage
entrepreneurial balancing of people, planet and
profi t in implementation of eco-innovations. The

ole of public procurement is often underemphasized
or ignored in this dynamic, yet is it tremendously
important and worth emphasizing as an
excellent way to drive demonstration and implementation
of eco-innovation and consequent
green growth. From basic purchasing policies
to use of public buildings as demonstrators and
models of responsible renovation and resource use,
well-managed public procurement can both serve
public needs and pull innovation from upstream
R&D actors. Beyond procurement policies, there
are special opportunities for governments to drive
real innovation in large-scale public-private partnerships,
far beyond implementation of current
best practices. Governments can put in place
enhanced environmental performance standards
for pilot projects in urban redevelopment. Pilot
areas of this type are wonderful opportunities to
encourage private sector actors to absorb and
learn to use eco-innovations, while ensuring
that implementation of technical innovations is
carried out in a socially responsible way, balancing
«eco» with «equo» to create livable, attractive
human environments whose eco-system service
demands are sustainable.
Do you believe that eco-innovation can be
a key to companies’ competitive advantage
on top of representing a necessary
response to the increasing environmental
challenges of our day?
Eco-innovation is certainly a source of competitive
advantage, in straightforward terms of effective
use of available new materials, products and
processes. Further advantages can be secured
from early preparation for increasingly stringent
environmental performance standards. It
also bears mentioning that consumers are
often willing to pay more for environmentally
responsible products – changing public attitudes
and tolerance may mean the end of businesses
which do not adapt to these new expectations.
And, perhaps most importantly, we are not
too far from a global treaty on greenhouse gas
emissions: an event which will produce winning
and losing businesses, where the winners are
those ready to thrive in a low-carbon global
business environment.
In your opinion companies operating
in developed countries are investing
enough in environmental research and
in the development of new products and
processes?
This is a diffi cult question. Many French fi rms
invest in internal R&D then used by highlyskilled
workers in development of products and
processes for sale in domestic and international
markets. We have long enjoyed a leading international
position as a productive economy thanks
In our urban
society, city
transport,
building and
communication
systems can
all be improved
to function
better while
demanding
less from our
environment.
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6
We need to
construct cities
which are overall
energy- and
eco-positive,
with effects
like increased
biodiversity.
to these investments. And as productive social
actors, those fi rms have also contributed very
substantially to our national research capacity
through taxation redirected to our public sector
research system and its transfer of knowledge to
the private sector. Yet at the same time, many
French fi rms are in sectors which are increasingly
competitive on national and international
levels, and those fi rms which fail to invest in
eco-innovation R&D will soon fi nd themselves
falling behind. Much more in-house investment
is needed and fi rms need to be more creative
about fi nding ways to partner with and invest in
public sector R&D capacity. Here at the Versailles
Saint Quentin University we have developed our
International Chair in Generating Eco-Innovation
to do just that, creatively creating a bridge
between industrial partners of the Chair and
the Chair’s actions taken to educate eco-innovators
and to involve university-sector researchers
in applied research projects. Those projects are
important to the eco-innovation capacity of
partner fi rms and France as a whole to the extent
that some projects respond to industry needs
and others push industry to think creatively
about how to change their offer to become
more environmentally sustainable and profi table
in economic and social terms. This is just one
leading model: fi rms in particular sectors need
to experiment with models most appropriate to
them, to use investment in knowledge-creation
to create economic opportunities which meet
and perhaps exceed sustainability goals and
standards. What is most important to stress
is that this must happen quickly. The world is
changing faster than ever before and we cannot
afford to be caught sleeping while very capable
competitors press ahead without us. We need to
work and invest with a sense of urgency for the
sake of our environmental quality and our international
competitiveness.
In which areas do you think that eco-innovation
should be particularly focused?
Just as there is no single, magic «right action» to
create a sustainable way of life, there is no single
eco-innovation priority which can be pursued
independent of other priorities. For example,
sustainable energy is of course critical to the
operation of our economy and our society, yet
sustainable use of water and treatment of wastes
are also critical. The contexts in which energy,
water and other resources are used are no less
important: we are now a predominantly urban
society, living in cities whose transport, building
and communication systems can all be improved
to function better while demanding less from our
environment. And, of course, eco-innovations
in each one of these areas must be effectively
integrated – isolated innovations whose good
effects are outweighed by problems elsewhere
do not, in the end, leave us much ahead.

The greening of the building sector is
considered one of the most promising
areas for eco-innovation as well as for the
development of the green economy in
general. In this fi eld you are working on
signifi cant projects for sustainability in the
urban environment. What are their main
objectives and contents?
We are closely involved with all of the Econoving
Chair partners in developing an integrated vision
of sustainable European cities of the future:
resilient, adaptable cities whose components are
«intelligent», communicating with one another
for improved technical effi ciency and improved
livability. In these cities social needs are at the
core of development and re-development, and
are never just an afterthought. In a sense, the
vision we are developing is a kind of thoughtful,
practical response to the view that sustainability
means simply consuming less. Our vision is
one of high quality of life and environmental
sustainability, built on technical, fi nancial,
and social acceptability research and solutions
to the question of how to control the fl ows of
energy, waste, transport and information more
effi ciently to reduce total demands on supporting
eco-systems. At the same time we are working
to integrate new technologies which will help
us to transition to new, renewable forms of
energy such as solar, wind and biogas, which
will enable us to gradually transform cities from
more effi cient users of current technologies into
net positive contributors to their eco-systems.
This is the largest, overall objective: to construct
cities which are overall energy- and eco-positive,
with particular positive effects measured in
readily available terms, for example, increased
biodiversity in areas where human habits and
consumption reduced biodiversity.
Eco-innovation and social innovation: what is
the relationship between these two lines of
action in the creation of a sustainable city?
Eco-innovation and social innovation are simply
two dimensions or ways of talking about the
same integrated suite of problems, priorities and
activities. The unity of these two things is very
important to our thinking. Technical innovations
do not occur in a vaccuum for no-one: technical
eco-innovations are for the sake of the human
communities which will use them, so those
communities are critical to the conception,
development and implementation of those technologies.
Co-design, then, between end-users
and technical experts, is a critical part of our
thinking. Equally, we recognize that implementation
of technical innovations is not free –
someone must pay for them somehow. We are
deeply concerned with identifying ways to fund
take-up of eco-innovations. In the same vein, we
recognize that substantial legal reform may be
needed to enable eco-innovation – from revision
Technical
eco-innovations
are for the sake
of the human
communities
which will use
them, so those
communities
are critical to
the conception,
development and
implementation
of new
technologies.
7

8
The unity of
eco-innovation
and social
innovation
is highly
important
to design
the next steps
of sustainable
development.
of building codes to expansion of pilot «high
performance standard zones» to wider areas.
When we think of the city of the future, we
must really stretch our imaginations to recognize
the demand for environmental sustainability as
an opportunity to improve life in cities, using
technical and social innovations to transform our
cities for the better.
What is your personal opinion about the
Masdar City Project in Abu Dhabi?
The Masdar City Project is wonderfully inspiring,
showing the world what can be to blend social
and technical eco-innovation when starting from
a blank slate. There is no doubt in my mind that
some important lessons can be learned from
the Masdar design process, even while we are
in a signifi cantly different situation in Europe.
Much of our work in cities must be devoted to
renovating buildings already in place, working
with transport options within existing street
patterns and so on. Our rich history gives us a
special challenge as we aim simultaneously to
preserve and to innovate.
The International Chair for Eco-innovation at the University
of Paris: a strong commitment for sustainability
The new International Chair in «Generating Eco-Innovation» at the PRES UniverSud Paris (a federation of research and higher education
institutions in the Île de France region of France) proposes a programme of research and innovation devoted to environmental
protection, with a special focus on energy, mobility and construction. The fi ve founding members of PRES are: Université Paris Sud
11, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, ENS de Cachan, Ecole Centrale Paris and Supélec. The PRES encompasses 200
research laboratories in the scientifi c domain (chemistry, engineering, physics, medicine, mathematical biology, information science,
natural and human sciences); more than 3,000 doctoral researchers and 5,500 researchers and academic staff. Italcementi Group has
participated, through Ciments Français, in the creation of the new Chair. Italcementi will support the future development of the Chair’s
programmes by promoting in-depth investigation of important subjects like CO emissions, biodiversity and the development of new
2
construction materials. «The creation of this international Chair enables us to further strengthen our commitment to eco-sustainability,
also thanks to the dialogue and co-operation with the Universities involved and the other companies taking part in this project», explained
Enrico Borgarello, Italcementi Group Innovation Director. Other major corporate groups participating in this project are: Alstom,
SNCF, GDF-Suez and SAUR, together with Ademe (Agence de l’Environnement et de Maîtrise de l’Energie).

Green and social must go together
Life in a constantly changing environment requires continuous adaptation.
This is how innovation is defi ned. Rejecting change management condemns us to
a quick death. Along this way green and social innovation must go hand in hand.
André-Yves Portnoff is Director of
the Observatoire de la Révolution
de l’Intelligence at Futurible
International. In 1983 he co-authored
the fi rst French report on the immaterial
society, an issue he examines in depth in
his more recent publications. He works
as a corporate consultant on global
capital assessment, perspectives and
innovation. In the following interview
André-Yves Portnoff focuses on present
consumers’ needs as well as on the
future of eco- and social innovation in
the urban environment.
«Change» is a key word of our day.
Of course this is not the fi rst time
in the history of mankind that
someone says «The Times They Are
A-Changin». Nevertheless today
the need for a change has ceased
to represent the point of view of a
minority group, to become a wide
and diffused perception the world
over. The global climate is changing
and people on the Planet are trying
to face the challenge, which mainly
means changing the common
paradigm of economic and social
growth. The present recession has
Interview with André-Yves Portnoff
Director of the Observatoire de la Révolution de l’Intelligence,
Futuribles International
made the situation unclear: in the
near future shall we simply aspire to
be rich again in a business as usual
scenario, or should we rather try to
achieve a more sustainable world
growth pattern?
Ever since the great classics of Chinese
philosophy, Heraclitus of Ephesus and
Buddha, we should know that «there
is nothing constant except change».
But we do not like to admit it because
change leads to our death and forces us
to take responsibility, to quit habits. Life
in a constantly changing environment
requires continuous adaptation. This
is how innovation is defi ned. Rejecting
change management condemns us to a
quick death. The fundamental question
in politics as in business or personal life
is that of time: do we act only under the
pressure of immediate issues? Are we
looking ahead to anticipate the problems
of tomorrow and after tomorrow? The
present Great Recession creates situations
of urgency. But if we do not have the
courage to take on long-term issues, not
only will the future take revenge but we
will only treat the symptoms of the crisis
and fall rapidly back into another more
serious crisis. And yet, we are witnessing
a trend towards revisionism and denial
of the climate change issues. This is
irresponsible.
In the industrialized countries
consumers’ demand for intangible
values in products and services
is increasing. What are, in your
opinion, the key-values of the
modern consumers?
For three decades, there has been both
a desire to consume ever more material
goods and a demand for growing
immaterial aspirations, which is not
entirely contradictory. Anyway, man is
not a fully rational being, contrary to the
absurd credo of the neo-classics. People
increasingly want to exercise their free
will and buy what suits their values. If
distrust in institutions and companies
– therefore in brands – increases,
disappointed consumers will turn to
the cheapest products. The Internet
introduces a new factor, reducing the
information asymmetry that privileged
the supply side, the professionals rather
than the consumers-citizens. The latter
now avail of an increasing number of
tools on their computers and telephones,
to compare offers by thousands of
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vendors and opinions of other users.
Consumerism will bloom and maintain
its ethical dimension. A large minority,
around 40% in Europe, even considers
that our professional work is useful to
society. Reinforced by the Internet this
minority is going to continue to exert
pressure on the authorities and institutions
to take into account long-term
issues. Indignant reactions of a signifi cant
portion of citizens, on both sides of
the Atlantic, against the immorality of
those who have triggered the crisis will
intensify this ethical trend. More and
more people are going to want to search
for meaning outside of just consuming
more of anything and anyhow, but the
risk remains that this may stimulate
reactions of populism, communitarian
withdrawal, or even fascism.
To be or to have? Is this the new
dilemma?
There is a lot of talk about «economy of
functionality». We discover that people
buy functions and not products that
support them. This has always been
the case. People have never (except by
snobbery) bought technology but what
it provides. Just today the technique
expands the range of possibilities. But
from the portable phonograph to the
radio set, or the record player, Walkman
or MP3 player, the users have always
A town is primarily a place for
exchanges between people who
spend there a signifi cant part
of their life and between these
residents and others who come
and go.
bought the pleasure of listening to
music when and where they wanted. For
businesses, the vital question is to ask
constantly about what their customers
actually buy: a car, the pleasure of
looking at it, of showing it, of driving it,
of mobility? Or the pleasure of owning
it? There are always been people who
take comfort in owning a good, even if
they do not use it, others have always
been much more oriented towards
its use. Networks that allow to do
things remotely, use distant resources,
encourage the development of services
giving access to goods that the user
does not need to manage himself.
How should companies face the
new consumers’ trends? Quality or
quantity: which is the right way for
the future economy?
In an environment of quick progress, and
rapid obsolescence of many products,
solutions that guarantee performance
will develop. People will move to buying
peace of mind, but maintaining trust
will become paramount, this is what
still hinders cloud computing, that is the
remote use of computers and software
that we do not own.
Companies that want to ensure
sustainable development will have to
be able to renew quickly their offer to
their consumers, listen carefully to what
they have to say to offer tailor-made
solutions. Compromising quality for
quantity is extremely dangerous.
Toyota’s diffi culties are typical: they used
to be the masters of quality and are now
crucifi ed with non-quality issues. There
is no way by which you can sacrifi ce,
for very long, quality on markets where
there are strong competitors ready to
use all networks to call to witness the
world public opinion and ruin your
reputation. This will still remain possible
in certain sectors where monopolistic
players have huge fi nancial resources
to misinform the press and the public
opinion. But innovation periodically calls
into question the monopoly positions,
including in the computer fi eld.
Mega-cities and urban environment
is where we will live in the coming
years. Will sustainable construction
play a signifi cant role in the building
of the new urban community?
The two obvious trends will be the desire
of well-being, and therefore health
on one hand and price on the other.

Environmental aspirations lead to reduce
energy consumption, but also the rise in
oil and gas prices and uncertainties about
the availability of hydrocarbons coming
from politically unstable areas will lead us
to resort to technically available solutions
to construct buildings using energy as best
we can. Computers are going to facilitate
the use of a smart grid, which means a
network reducing peak consumption,
costly failures due to overload. «Smart
meters» will provide users with real
time information to better adjust their
personal consumption and suppliers to
optimize their production. Smart grids will
facilitate the integration of local energy
sources to the main network, which, in
turn, will help promoting the insertion
of photovoltaic cells to new buildings.
This trend towards energy independence
can be promoted both by a rise in environmental
awareness and by fear and
communitarian seclusion in «ghettos
for the rich». It is likely that urban
pollution issues will become so urgent
that we will have to take action and that
pollution abating measures will be taken
in the fi eld of transport through a more
intelligent traffi c management policy,
public transport, electrical vehicles and
the use of pollution absorbing materials.
Clients – and public authorities – will be
more sensitive to issues of maintenance,
reparability, «clean» disposal which will
be better taken into account in the
purchase price in a context of «total
cost» over time.
To face the challenges of our
time multidisciplinary
cross-industry skills must
be developed.
What is the meaning of sustainable
construction from your point of
view? Do you believe that eco-innovation
should go together with social
innovation, and what should be the
priorities for social innovation?
To me, these two issues are linked.
A «sustainable» building must be
integrated into a form of «sustainable»
urban planning. Green innovation and
social innovation cannot be separated.
Already, in the sixteenth century in
Venice, they projected the development
of the city in its natural environment
and they understood that everything
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12
was linked together, that the fl ow
of the lagoon had to be respected.
Construction must be «sustainable» for
people in their environment. A town is
primarily a place for exchanges between
people who spend there a signifi cant
part of their life and between these
residents and others who come and go.
Everything must be imagined around
these people, these exchanges which are
the basis for society and the economy.
But today we must put together two
dimensions, that of the physical space
and that of the digital space, that of
the Internet enabled neighbourhoods.
The physical city cannot be designed
regardless of the e-city. Internet is a tool
that both strengthens communication
with the world at large and with the local
environment and also promoting local
life through communication amongst
residents and visitors. Venice municipality
initiatives’ regarding fi bre-optic
networks and Wifi hotspots is a good
example of both. Multidisciplinary
cross-industry skills must be developed.
Planners, architects, designers should be
more humble and listen more carefully
to future inhabitants, look through their
eyes. In any trade, and in construction
in particular, listening is the best
source of creativity and avoids many
blunders. It is always indispensable to
listen to other specialists to complete
an urban planning project. It cannot be
tolerated that brilliant architects who
are not technicians, engineers who may
not always know all the alternatives,
including aesthetic, offered by modern
materials, abstract computer scientists,
offi cials who administer regulations,
sociologists, coming in too late to
explain why dangerous and costly urban
pathologies emerge, work in isolation.
We are not machines, we have
a vital need for immaterial
goods, love, friendship and also
beauty. Building a beautiful
living environment is also a part
of environmental and social
innovation.
A good example is set by men like
Francesco di Giorgio Martini, at the
same time a painter, engineer and
architect, Filippo Brunelleschi who
has better defi ned the geometric
perspective and has served as a
manager and a teacher to complete
the construction of Florence’s Duomo.
A good general education is essential
for specialists to elaborate, through
dialogue, a true collective intelligence
in urban planning projects to create
living environments respecting the
surroundings and promoting people’s
development.
Living environments must live, they
must be deigned to evolve over
decades. They are not world expos
intended for quick destruction… And
this brings us back to the economy
of functionality. It is hard to stick to
the obvious. «Useful» functions do
not only refer to rational or material
needs. Man does not follow Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs according to which
we must satisfy our material needs
fi rst and then, only, our immaterial or
spiritual needs. Because we are not
machines, we have a vital need for
immaterial goods, love, friendship and
also beauty. Building a beautiful living
environment is also part and parcel of
environmental and social innovation.
Over the long term, it is economically
sound too, as a population that lives
in beautiful surroundings is stimulated
and becomes more creative in all areas;
it becomes also more demanding in its
social and public behaviour.

Productivity of resource utilisation:
a new challenge for business
Companies must rethink their normal planning approach to combat growing
uncertainty driven by increasing use of planet’s resources.
Vittorio Terzi took over as
Managing Director of McKinsey
& Company’s Mediterranean
Complex with offi ces in Italy, Athens,
Cairo, Istanbul and Tel Aviv, in 2004.
Prior to joining McKinsey in 1985,
he worked as a consultant at the EU
Environment Directorate in Brussels
and as a corporate banker at Citibank
in London and Milan. Vittorio Terzi is
a senior leader of the Firm’s European
Banking and European Corporate
Finance Practices. Over his 25-year
career with McKinsey, he has served
Italian and European clients on a wide
range of topics including business
strategy, organisation, organic and
inorganic growth, corporate fi nance,
risk management and performance
improvement. He has also been advisor
on several M&A transactions in the
domestic and international arenas.
sdVision asked Vittorio Terzi to outline
the main trends of companies’ environmental
policies both in the industrialised
and in the emerging countries.
As trusted advisor and counselor to
many of the world’s most infl uential
businesses, you have a wide vantage
Interview with Vittorio Terzi
Managing Director, McKinsey & Company,
Mediterranean Complex
point on the environmental strategies
of the leading companies in the
industrialised world. In your view,
how high do these companies prioritise
environmental issues today?
I’m not convinced that environmental
problems are a top priority for companies
today, but I believe they should
have a much more prominent place on
company agendas than they do. The environmental
question and, more generally,
the availability of the planet’s natural
resources could have a huge effect on
companies from a performance and
business model perspective. We can’t
talk about the environment without considering
the planet’s resources. Companies
must think about several factors that
will have a major impact on the future
availability and volatility of resources: demand
and supply dynamics, increasing
regulation, and heightened awareness
of environmental issues. It is estimated
that the consumption of raw materials
will grow by more than 30% over the
next 10 years and emerging markets will
account for 90% of this. In China alone,
demand for energy is rising by 15% a
year. Supply, however, will remain limited.
Extraction costs will grow as it be-
comes more and more diffi cult to fi nd
and access sources. In addition, many of
the major sources are located in politically
unstable countries: Iran, Iraq, Venezuela
and Saudi Arabia possess 50% of the
world’s crude oil. Rising demand, limited
supply and increasing costs will push up
commodity prices. If we consider that
this sector represents 15% of world GDP,
we can understand how important these
factors are for both the economy at large
and for individual companies.
We can’t talk about the
environment without considering
the planet’s resources. Companies
must think about several factors
that will have a major impact
on the future availability and
volatility of resources.
Growing regulation will also have a big
impact on companies. Some regulatory
schemes currently under consideration
could radically change companies’ business
models. The systems for fi xing coal
and water prices, for example, could
change certain industries dramatically.
In addition, public awareness of envi-
13

14
ronmental issues is high and will affect
the way companies think about their
strategies. Combined with the control
of resources I mentioned above, these
will lead to highly volatile pricing and
resource availability. Unless carefully
evaluated and incorporated into corporate
planning, these factors could seriously
threaten a company’s competitive
advantage.
Given the slow pace of economic
recovery, how are companies facing
the challenge of sustainable development?
Companies must rethink their normal
planning approach. “Business-as-usual”
will not combat rising prices and growing
uncertainty driven by increasing use
of the planet’s resources, especially by
developing countries. Strategies should
consider all possible scenarios, commodity
price fl uctuations, and the impact
that greater or lesser degrees of volatility
can have on business. Techniques for
planning under uncertainty are still in
their infancy, although the recent crisis
has boosted this trend and companies
are beginning to apply them, for example
stress tests in banks. However, they
are far from common and still have a
long way to go.
Becoming environment-friendly can
lower costs because companies end
up reducing the inputs they use. In
addition, the process can generate
additional revenues from better
products or enable companies to
create new businesses. Would you
treat sustainability as innovation’s
new frontier?
I believe that a critical competitive factor
in the future will be the productivity
of resource utilisation. In tomorrow’s
world, productivity in general will be
important, productivity of labour and of
capital – and not just for banks. Productivity
of resource utilisation will also become
essential and innovation is key.
Many companies are already moving
in this direction. For example, UPS has
saved 2% on its fuel costs by using a
software that helps plan delivery routes
with fewer left turns, which consume
more fuel than right turns. Similarly,
Apple has created ways to reduce waste
in its products. Since launching the

iMac, it has cut raw material content by
50% and energy consumption by 40%.
Boeing designed its new Dreamliner
with both the environment and costs in
mind: by using lightweight composite
materials, the company improved fuel
effi ciency by more than 20%, reducing
the customer’s lifetime ownership cost
and potential future environmental exposure.
Consumers, too, are pushing
companies to become more environmentally
friendly and are helping to create
some great new businesses. Clorox,
for example, captured 40% of the US
natural cleaning products market within
the fi rst quarter of launching its Green-
Works line, increasing the size of the
overall category substantially. Moreover,
it did so by offering a suite of products
that were up to 25% cheaper than other
natural products. This made customers
happy and shareholders very happy, as
it generated margins 20 to 25% higher
than the company’s average. As these
examples show, awareness of environmental
impact can drive innovation.
Eco-innovation is more likely
to come from countries where
regulators are more fl exible,
where they understand the
urgency of whole environmental
question and do not raise
barriers. This enables an entire
system to transform gradually.
In the future, only companies that
make sustainability a goal will
achieve a competitive advantage.
That means rethinking business
models as well as products,
technologies, and processes.
Do you agree with this point of
view?
Sustainability will undoubtedly be an
important factor – not the only factor –
for companies to compete successfully
because it requires the ability to manage
resources productively. If companies can
produce the same quantity of products
with lower consumption and a better
use of raw materials, this is a clear benefi
t and will give them a competitive advantage.
But it’s diffi cult to say whether
sustainability will be the most important
competitive factor.
It is more applicable in some industries
than in others.
Do you believe that companies
operating in the industrialised
world can drive eco-innovation for
the global economy?
Only in part. All companies worldwide
will be under pressure to control the
planet’s resources – energy and others
– better.
But driving ecological innovation depends
largely on the point of departure.
Companies in industrialised countries
will undoubtedly push major improvements,
but they are bound by their past
and this can act as a brake on innovation.
Emerging markets are better positioned
to be eco-innovators because
they are starting from scratch and have
no barriers to break down.
China, for example, leads the world
in terms of energy consumption and
pollution. But it is also the largest
developer of renewable energy. A
Chinese company holds a 12% share
of the US solar panel market and plans
to capture 20% in the next two years.
China also produces and consumes the
most wind energy in the world. So, on
one hand it is a heavy polluter because
it needs energy to sustain its growth,
but on the other it is positioning itself
as the world’s largest producer of clean
energy.
This suggests that innovation is more
likely to come from countries where
regulators are more fl exible, where
they understand the urgency of whole
environmental question and do not
raise barriers. This enables an entire
system to transform gradually.
Do you believe in the green
economy as a milestone of the “next
economy”?
It will certainly be a major factor,
although not the only one.
McKinsey forecasts that over the next
10 years 2 trillion dollars will be invested
in clean technologies worldwide. This
industry already generates revenues of
around 1 trillion dollars a year.
This means that the green economy
will be a driving force behind the
general economy and we can’t ignore
it. It will not be the only one, but it
will determine the success or failure of
many companies, depending on their
ability to manage dwindling resources
and create sustainable development.
15

16
Through the i.nova platform, Italcementi Group aims at
strengthening its commitment to innovation, embracing change
and being open to new ideas.
strength and characteristic of this
recession clearly suggest an unlikely
«The
return to the previous situation: the
old model of development appears unsustainable
and even undesirable». These were the
opening statements of Carlo Pesenti, CEO of
Italcementi Group, at a recent conference of
the General Italian Workers’ Confederation
focused on industrial strategies for countering
the recession and improving future outlook.
Organisations must re-invent themselves in
order to successfully transform their model of
development. Positive elements from the past
must be leveraged around a new matrix of
ideals aimed at changing the world in which the
company operates, both inside and outside.
Projects Our fl ag for innovation: i.nova
Italcementi Group’s investments
in Research and Innovation
Business organisations must embrace a new and
creative dimension; quite an unusual undertaking
for large industrial groups, particularly those
operating in traditional industries such as cement.
The idea of innovation is deeply rooted in
the Italcementi Group’s history, and goes beyond
simple wishful thinking to a practical implementation
of a clear corporate vision. Figures help
Sergio Crippa
Italcementi Group Communication and Image Director
us better qualify this commitment. Italcementi
Group invests some 13 million Euro a year in Research
and Innovation. Its innovation index – i.e.
the ratio of revenues generated by innovation
projects to total Group sales – currently stands at
3.2%, equivalent to a 10% increase from 2008
to 2009. It has grown steadily over the last few
years with the medium-to-long term goal being
5%. Building on well-established past experiences,
teams involved in innovative ideas drive
the company to re-imagine itself, to open itself
to new horizons and new adventures, often redefi
ning existing models. Innovation, in terms of
processes and products, but especially in terms
of ideas, provides the opportunity to face new
markets with new proposals, new services, new
processes and new products. i.nova is the symbol
of this vision. Innovation as a core value, a
force that makes it possible to look above and
beyond the recession, turning the current crisis
from an obstacle into an opportunity.
i.nova is the symbol of our vision
i.nova is the symbol, the fl ag representing Italcementi
Group’s innovation community, its
«core identity», its founding values and its vision
and mission.This fl ag embodies the history

Italian Pavilion, World EXPO 2010, Shanghai
and traditions of a group with its ever-growing
set of experiences and system of talents. This
is the purpose of i.nova, the fl ag under which
Italcementi Group’s best resources join forces,
combining uniquely multidisciplinary skills in
chemistry, physics, geology and engineering
to achieve truly ambitious results. «Flags have
a strong, symbolic and unique connotation» –
once said Wally Olins, guru of strategic communication
and co-founder of Wolff Olins, a British
fi rm advising Italcementi Group on its corporate
identity. Flags highlight the importance of uniting
under a symbol an element that cannot be
described in words, but that is easily recognizable
and instantly conveys the identity and beliefs
The environmental commitment of Italcementi
Group gives place to a great
effort in innovation as well as to the application
of the best environmental practices
in its daily operations. I myself in my work
also give great consideration to the impact
that my decisions might have from an environmental
perspective. In my private life,
I drive a hybrid car which I see as a choice
consistent with my conduct and work.
Graciela Ramallo Taboada
Spain Communication Department
of a group. In his book The Corporate Personality,
Wally Olins recalls how the «American federated
states, as soon as they were established
in 1860, immediately put together all the significant
elements of a state-nation – fl ag, colours,
capital city, even a song – able to communicate
a whole set of values in an immediate form».
Italcementi Group’s continues its commitment
to innovative systems, technologies and products
for a sustainable development. The i.nova
logo gathers all the «signifi cant» elements of
the Group’s activities in the area of innovation
in order to achieve excellence in the construction
industry while preserving the environment
and improving human quality of life.
i.nova is a
shared platform
between
Italcementi
Group, the world
of Research
and Innovation
and the building
community.
I feel myself motivated by taking part in
Italcementi Group’s Research and Innovation
area, which has a big share in solving
the existing problems and in generating
new ideas for the future. We work hard
to fi nd functional, aesthetic and simple
solutions for the building sector, with reduced
energy demand during production
and lifetime.
Bora Yagli
Group R&D Department
17

18
A new Department to foster Italcementi
Group’s commitment to Innovation
Italcementi Group’s commitment to Research and Innovation has recently been confi rmed with the creation
of the Innovation Department. This will foster the role of innovation as one of the pillars in support of the
growth and the global competitiveness of the Group, under the umbrella of sustainable development with special
focus on cost, quality, safety and knowledge management. The mission of Innovation Deparment is to develop
products, processes, solutions and applications with higher added values as compared to the traditional
ones, able to enhance the technological leadership of Italcementi Group, increasing competitive advantage and
customer satisfaction, while consistent with the Group strategic objectives, rules, principles and values.
Today the Group invests approximately 13 million Euro per year in Research and Innovation, with 60 active
patents on new products and processes, and 170 people involved in two Research Centres (Bergamo and
Guerville). The leading theme of our Innovation strategy is sustainable development: from the reduction of
CO emissions impact on business, to the development of products and processes best known for their low
2
energy consumption, best water resources management, increased use of by-products and recycled materials
in order to reduce the natural resources consumption and emissions. This value is more and more recognised
by the market, where a pure low cost solution for the building and construction sector is leaving space to a
new concept, already developed in Italcementi Group for several years, that is: low cost and highly sustainable
solutions.
Working with architects and designers under the i.nova initiative, we are able to demonstrate our commitment
to sustainable innovation, developing new products and processes that can reinforce our image,
such as the TX Active ® , the i.light ® , the i.clime ® cements, just to mention some recent ones. Participating
in very challenging projects within the i.nova initiative, gives Italcementi Group the opportunity to grow
and innovate faster, with very high visibility in our areas of business activities. The true challenge is then to
transform these highly visibile projects into real business opportunities for the Group and its subsidiaries.
The Innovation Department has the mandate to support the development of sustainable innovative products,
processes and solutions within the subsidiaries, through specifi c R&D and Marketing projects in order to speed
up the deployment of innovative solutions.
Enrico Borgarello
Italcementi Group Innovation Director
It’s great to know that our company is
careful of people and environment. Everyone
of us gives a contribution to make
Italcementi daily commitment for Sustainable
Development more specifi c and better
known. We know this commitment
improves the reputation of our company
and of all the workers: that’s very satisfactory.
Paolo Razzano
Italy Communication Department
In my opinion sustainability must be a keyword
in the life of everybody. I believe that
with our daily actions we can contribute
to the sustainable development of our society.
Especially we have to manage the
resources in order to satisfy our needs
thinking about what is necessary for their
production and how much the production
processes are pollutant.
Alessandro Morbi
Group R&D Department
The attention paid to sustainability as a
holistic concept in Italcementi Group stimulates
environmental awareness which is
continuously shaping my personal views
and actions in the society. The commitment
shown by the Group is a constant
reminder to stay on track especially in
a society which has for sometime now
driven away from sustainable values.
Mankaa Nangah Rose
Group Sustainable Development
Department
Eco-effi ciency, social responsibility and
innovation as pillars of industrial activities
boost my enthusiasm and motivation;
these are Italcementi Group’s key drivers
in which I’m fully convinced of. Innovation
does make sense by bringing social
contribution to people in enhancing their
life comfort and reducing environmental
footprint as well.
Jean Philippe Vacher
France-Belgium Innovation Department

Eco-innovation
within Italcementi Group
NEW PRODUCTS FOR
SUSTAINABLE BUILDING
EXPO 2010: “Transparent
cement” for the Italian
Pavilion of Shanghai
A new type of cement has been set up
which, by bonding special resins into a
newly conceived mix, allows manufacturing
solid insulated yet light-transmitting
construction panels. The new i.light ®
transparent cement was used to build the
Italian Pavilion for the World Expo 2010
in Shanghai. The new material has been
developed by Italcementi Group to meet
the project needs of the building that
will represent Italy in China during the six
months of the International Exhibition.
«After meeting architect Giampaolo
Imbrighi, project manager of the Pavilion,
we had to identify, in the shortest possible
time, an innovative and cost-effective
solution to make the Italian Pavilion’s walls
transparent – explained Giovanni Ferrario,
Chief Operating Offi cer of Italcementi
Group –. We successfully managed to set
up our new “transparent cement” as a
result of winning fi eld-research experience.
Once again, Italcementi Group is successful
in driving innovation in an apparently
traditional sector such as the building
i.light ® “transparent cement”
Italian Pavilion, World EXPO 2010, Shanghai
materials industry. Innovation is playing an
increasingly important role in our company’s
mission».
The new product developed at the Italcementi
Group laboratories ensures transparency
through an innovative cement/admixtures
mix design. The excellent fl ow properties
of the mix allow bonding a plastic resin
matrix into a fi nal panel that combines the
typical robustness of cementitious materials
and the possibility of fi ltering light
both inwards and outwards. This is the
fi rst solution for an industrial application
of “transparent cement”: «The resins
– explain the researchers – if adequately
inserted in the cementitious material, have
higher transparency performance than the
optical fi bres experimentally used in this
fi eld, but also cost much less allowing for
their application on a large scale».
3,774 transparent panels made from 189
tons of “transparent cement” cover a
total surface area of 1,887 square metres,
approximately 40% of the entire Pavilion,
creating a sequence of lights and shadows
in constant evolution during the day. The
transparent effect is more evident when
it is dark and, seen from the outside, the
19

20
building will allow the interior lights to
fi lter through while, from inside, during
the day, it will show the changes in the
levels of daylight. The panels used in
Shanghai measure 500x1000x50 mm and
degree of transparency equals 20% of
their surface area. Compared with static
performance, based on tests carried out in
the laboratory, a three-point fl exural test
showed that the panels can bear an elastic
load of around 2 kilonewton; maximum
failure load as measured from tests was
around 8 kilonewton. Each panel weighs
about 25 kg. The properties of this material
are undergoing further investigation by
Italcementi Group researchers in order
to develop
additional and
more advanced
applications for
the product.
Used for the
fi rst time
“Transparent cement” in details
i.clime ® and the 100k€ House
The so-called “thermal cement” branded
i.clime ® is the latest innovative product
developed by Italcementi Group researchers.
It consists of an ecological product that
reduces energy consumption in buildings.
This material is intended for variety of
applications, from building structures to
curtain walls (internal/external), specifi cally
designed to optimize energy effi ciency
and environmental friendliness. i.clime ®
in Shanghai, future applications of this
material may include its adoption as an
architectural component with diversifi ed,
integrated functions, such as, for example,
internal lighting (shading/light diffusion
techniques).
The challenge of transparency confi rms
the innovative and creative dimension of
Made in Italy and has allowed Italcementi
Group to provide the Italian Pavilion with
know-how and solid business experience, in
line with its involvement in other important
architectural projects in the past.
«Every person is in daily contact with
cement. With an annual budget exceeding
13 million Euro, Italcementi Group research
strives to make cement a more sustainable
material able to create healthy environments
where living is comfortable. This is the case
of “transparent” buildings where the light
becomes the most prominent element»
says Enrico Borgarello, Italcementi Group
Innovation Director.
The transparent properties of cement have been made possible by special processing
technologies applied to the materials involved, i.e. cement, admixtures and resins.
The resulting mix features all those properties, including fl ow, that are needed to fi x
resins into the panels thus allowing optical conveyance of light and images without
altering the insulation and robustness properties of the cement-based material.
The resins are special polymers, which Italcementi Group researchers have found
to be particularly suitable for this type of application. These resins, which may have
different colours, interact both with artifi cial and natural light creating a soft, warm
light inside the building and a clear bright image on the outside. Italcementi Group
researchers have identifi ed the correct formula of a dry ready-mixed product
that allows inserting these plastic resins in the cementitious material, which is
naturally opaque, without creating cracks and jeopardizing the structure.
Without resorting to the more expensive optical fi bres, this solution is particularly suitable
for industrial use of “transparent cement” and offers a greater luminosity, since the
resins are able to exploit much wider angles of light incidence than optical fi bres.
Another peculiarity of the transparent cement designed for Shanghai is in the area of
casting operations. Despite the material’s complexity, this cement can be poured
straight into moulds at the building site resulting in signifi cant cost reductions.
Even the strength properties of the transparent cement are very interesting.
Currently, pre-fabricated panels, some of which are very large, are being developed.
delivers the durability and strength of
traditional cements with very low thermal
conductivity, high steam permeability and
appreciable thermal inertia, guaranteeing
a comfortable
climate all
year round. In
addition to its
intrinsic characteristics,
i.clime ®
is competitive
23 d World IUA Congress, Mario Cucinella
presenting the 100k€ House project
over the entire life cycle: aggregates
contained in the concrete do not come
from raw materials but are re-used from
other materials such as vitreous recycled
components that come from TV screens
and discarded computers. With respect to
the environmental sustainability, thanks to
its low impact on non-renewable resources,
it is possible to abate CO 2 emissions during
the production phase. And there’s more:
thanks to the ecological nature of the
material they can be completely re-used
after dismantling. The “thermal cement”
i.clime ® has been conceived for the 100K€
House, a 100-square-meter house for 100
thousand Euro designed by Italian Architect
Mario Cucinella. The 100K€ House is a
real “low cost” project that fulfi ls the
dream of every family of having a house
at an affordable price, attentive to power
saving and with a strong respect for the
surrounding territory and the environment.
The eco-sustainable house is modern and
suitable to accommodate different identities
and life styles. Each person can decide
the shape of the house by choosing from
the various available models. Each home
will fully express and refl ect the desire of
its owner: a customized pre-fabrication
project, with light structural elements and
moving equipment, such as sliding walls,
straight or curved, and special one-piece
closing systems, to diversify both the outside
and inside of the home. An open shape
that will allow each person to elaborate
and build his/her own home. Experts at
the Research and Innovation Center are
working in close cooperation with Mario
Cucinella Architects to tackle technical
issues involved in the project, developing
environmentally friendly materials at
sensible costs. The challenge is protecting
the environment while saving both nonrenewable
and economic resources. The
house is in fact able to produce power and

100k€ House: high energy and environmental efficiency and low cost
to reduce energy consumption by using
every kind of strategy to make the building
a bio-climatic machine. This solution will
help save on construction costs and will
cover part of the mortgage costs and utility
installation costs: the installed solar panels,
in fact, produce the power needed for the
house and the excess production can be
sold. As to CO 2 emissions, this house is
truly innovative: while a traditional house
produces 62 kg of CO 2 per square meter
per year, the 100K€ House is a carbon
zero solution. Hence, the “100K House”
is perfectly in line with Italcementi Group’s
objective of achieving excellent construction
activities and economic performance,
while respecting the environment and
improving people’s living conditions.
From Ciments Calcia
the fi rst biodegradable
and compostable cement
packaging: BioSac
In 2008, the French market for bagged
cement generated about 35,000 tons
of packaging waste, which is currently
considered conventional industrial waste
and, therefore, simply disposed of in landfi lls
or incinerated. In line with Ciments Calcia’s
Innovation and Sustainable Development
policy, BioSac by Calcia provides a practical
solution for all tradesmen and companies
facing the challenge of managing building
site waste. Developed in cooperation with
Barbier, Limagrain, Mondi and Ciments
Calcia, this 100% biodegradable and
compostable bag adds an environmentally
friendly scope to its intrinsic resistance
and preservation qualities.
Today’s cement bags are made up of a
double layer of Kraft paper, which ensures
resistance, and a polyethylene-free fi lm
that preserves the product. This mix of
different materials makes it diffi cult to
recycle the packaging. The innovation of
BioSac by Calcia lies in Biolice ® , the 100%
natural «free fi lm» obtained from corn
fl our: an effective solution to facilitate
the disposal of this kind of packaging.
BioSac by Calcia meets all the requirements
set forth in European standard
EN 13432 on recoverable biodegradable
and compostable packaging. BioSac has
obtained the OK Compost1 conformity
mark (certifi cate No. S145).
This new generation of packaging
technology has successfully passed all tests
ensuring that 96.3% of material can be
decomposed with industrial composting
systems in just 12 weeks. The Belgian
Inspection Organisation AIB Vinçotte
confi rmed these results.
According to EN 13432, four criteria should
be taken into account when considering
the composting process:
p biodegradation: specifi c enzymes
stimulate the degradation process by
modifying the chemical composition of a
substance (water, CO 2 , methane and heat
are released). The minimum biodegradation
level in composting sites should be of
at least 90% within 6 months;
p disintegrability (fragmentation and
loss of visibility): the physical breakdown
of materials into small fragments;
p heavy metals: content in certain metals
such as mercury, lead, cadmium, etc. should
be verifi ed;
p ecotoxicity: the absence of possible
negative effects on the ecosystem should
be verifi ed.
Biodegradation is a decomposition process
that induces an eco-friendly bio-assimilation
process through the combined action of
four elements: oxygen, water, micro-organisms
and heat. Composting is a process
allowing organic waste to be turned into
compost that can be used to enrich soils
and does not leave any trace of toxic waste.
Thanks to BioSac by Calcia, professionals in
the construction sector may take advantage
of a 100% eco-friendly solution in
line with the target 6 requirements
in the High Quality Environmental
standard for green building in
France, related to minimizing waste
in operations. CRH, Le Holloco,
Point P, Prévot Cartier, Réseau Pro and
the Société des Matériaux de Nogent
will be marketing this innovative
product in the Ile-de-France region
starting from March 2010. BioSac by
Calcia will reach the rest of France in
the course of this year.
21

22
ALIPRE ® for lower CO 2 emissions
ALIPRE ® , Italcementi Group’s brand for
its family of products based on calcium
sulphoaluminate technology, is one of the
main products in i.nova. It is an example of
a hi-tech environmentally friendly product,
produced with far lower CO 2 emissions than
traditional cement. These new construction
materials targeted at architects and
designers interested in “good building”
practices, those that balance aesthetics
and environmental impact of new
constructions.
Depending on the technical requirements
and the applications of the fi nal
products, ALIPRE ® can be used as main
component or as secondary constituent
to adjust workability time, setting time
and mechanical strength and achieve
special products performances such as
rapid setting, high early strength, increased
sulphate resistance and shrinkage compensation.
ALIPRE ® based products are
obtained by mixing calcium sulphoaluminate
clinker with calcium sulphate and
Portland cement. Appropriate blends of the
three components address a wide range of
needs such as:
p highly adjustable setting time
p rapid early strength development
p progressive strength increase, exceeding
top-performing Portland cements
p low shrinkage values
p low alkali content.
The new product line is a perfect choice for
producing adhesives, mortars, concrete,
rapid and semi-rapid screeds and sealants
featuring low shrinkage and excellent
durability. An effective solution for a wide
variety of applications: paving and fl ooring,
tunnelling, waste treatment, acid-resistant
coatings.
ALIPRE ® technology is available in products
formulated in response to a large number
of specifi c applications:
p ALIFLO ® - Technology for fl ooring
p ALIECO ® - Technology for waste
treatment
p ALISPID ® - Technology for accelerating
concrete
p ALICOAT ® - Technology for coatings
p ALICAST ® - Technology for molded
elements.
Italcementi helps founding
Green Building Council Italia
I talcementi is one of the founding members of the Green Building Council Italia.
The purpose of GBC Italia is to introduce the LEED – Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design – independent certifi cation system in Italy. This system
provides the parameters of specifi c design and construction criteria for energy-effi cient
green buildings with reduced environmental impact.
i.lab as a reference point
of eco-sustainable architecture
and innovation
i.lab is an important proof of Italcementi
Group’s commitment to eco-sustainable
architecture. It is the new research and
innovation center of the Group – designed
by Richard Meier – under construction in the
scientifi c and technological Kilometro Rosso
Park area. i.lab occupies an area of 11,000
m 2 including 7,500 m 2 of research laboratories.
Intended as an architectural benchmark
for energy savings and innovative design
quality, the building delivers maximum
environmental performance to comply
with the strict Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) standards,
the leading sustainable construction certifi
cation program in the USA. At a technological
level, in addition to its important
architectural features, the i.lab project
makes extensive use of alternative sources
of energy: the roof will be fi tted with
photovoltaic panels for production of
more than 54,560 kWh of electricity, and
with 250 m 2 of solar panels serving the
heating and air-conditioning plant, for
an overall saving of 12.7 tons of conventional
fossil fuel. Further energy savings
will be achieved thanks to a geothermal
system using heat stored in the soil and
subsoil, while the building will be plastered
with “smog-eating” cement based on
TX Active ® , the photocatalytic principle
that enables surfaces to conserve their
original appearance and plays a signifi cant
role in eliminating pollutants in the
i.lab, Italy, under construction
atmosphere. Moreover LEED requires the
use of recycled content materials, local
materials, rapidly renewable materials,
salvaged or refurbished materials, materials
with low emission of organic substances and
certifi ed wood. Following this approach,
it was decided that part of the reinforced
concrete structure should be obtained from
slag cements (that may have up to 30% of
their weight composed of salvaged material)
together with steels obtained 100% from
the industrial processing recycle.
The building has been assigned the Green
Good Design Award by “The Chicago
Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture
and Design” and “The European Center
for Architecture Art Design and Urban
Studies”, as the most innovative industrial
achievement of 2009. The Green Good
Design Award is a prestigious honour
instituted in 1950 in Chicago by a group
of distinguished engineers and designers,
among them Eero Saarinen, Edgar J.

Kaufmann Jr., Charles and Ray Eames.
As an international symbol of business
commitment to innovation and excellence
in architecture and design, the award is
assigned on an annual basis in 23 project
classifi cations, including, as of 2008, a
sustainable development category.
i.lab is a reference point of eco-sustainable
architecture in Europe and the
benchmark of innovation for architects
and the design world.
FYM: a new concrete to
minimise the environmental
impact of buildings
FYM, Italcementi Group’s subsidiary in Spain,
Labein-TECNALIA, a technology research
centre, and the company Hormigones y
Morteros Agote (Hormor) collaborated in
“Kubik”, a one-of-a-kind infrastructure
project unique worldwide for its R&D&I
focus on improving energy effi ciency in
construction. This collaboration has mainly
consisted of developing new construction
materials from iron aggregates – until now
wasted and dumped – to lay the foundation
of “Kubik”. The “Kubik” project has already
seen its fi rst material application: a special
concrete employed in laying the foundation
of Labein-TECNALIA’s new infrastructure
in the Biscay Technological Park, where
real-scale R&D&I activities will be carried
out to evaluate the extent to which new
construction solutions and heating, air
conditioning and lighting systems increase
buildings’ energy effi ciency. The innovation
not only consists of this cutting-edge iron
aggregate concrete (HAS), but also in the
manner in which it was laid, the volume
used and the execution of structural
elements, such as foundation slabs and
basement walls. The job was successfully
completed thanks to coordinated efforts
among developers, concrete manufacturers
and iron aggregate production companies
and managers. Together, they managed to
substitute 80% of the natural aggregate
volume which normally would have
been extracted from quarries. FYM was
in charge of manufacturing, transporting
and laying the iron aggregate concrete.
On its part, Hormor successfully took
care of transformation and supply from
its plant in Zestoa, turning an industrial
by-product into a recovered raw material
for use in a value-added material: structural
concrete type HA-30/F/20/IIa+Qa (slab)
and HA-30/B/20/IIa+Qa (walls), laid in the
foundations of Labein-Tecnalia’s facilities.
This structure can resist up to 3,000 tonnes
of weight per square metre.
This industrial by-product, widely available
in the Basque Country with more than
800,000 tonnes produced per year, is
called black steel slag and was uncontrollably
wasted or dumped until just a few
years ago. This new application shows
that it is possible to build an aggregate
with optimum guarantees fi t for the most
demanding requirements associated with
commercial reinforced concrete which has
structural purposes and responsibilities.
The team formed by FYM, Hormor and
Labein-Tecnalia has managed not only to
execute a real structural application, but
also to present a clear path for turning
waste into the foundations of what will
serve as an example for effi cient construction
in the sector’s economic, social and
environmental arenas. The researchers at
Labein-Tecnalia and FYM believe that there
is more to be explored in this fi eld given
Foundation slabs and basement walls realised within the “Kubik” project, Spain
the interesting opportunities in analysing
possible improvements to HAS features
in comparison with traditional concrete
manufactured with natural aggregates. For
example, it might be possible to achieve
high initial resistances faster, greater gains
in long-term resistance, better durability,
fi re resistance, etc.
ECO-EFFICIENT
PROCESSES FOR CEMENT
MANUFACTURING
How to reduce NO x
emissions from kilns
The request to reduce nitrogen oxide
emissions has become increasingly urgent
in recent years. The cement industry, along
with other industrial sectors, responded
to this request by increasing applied
theoretical research into both formation
mechanisms and possible ways to eliminate
NOx before they reach the atmosphere. A
detailed study of formation mechanisms,
which are very complex and still under
examination, has led to the so-called
“primary methods”, which are in fact
largely based on preventing the formation
of nitrogen oxides in the fl ame. Acting
adequately on ways and times of reaction
between oxygen in the combustion air and
fuel, it is possible to hinder the formation
mechanisms of these compounds and
therefore to reduce emissions. However,
in the case of the cement kiln, this way of
preventing NOx formation is strongly limited
by the need to work at high temperatures
(up to 2,000°C in the main burner fl ame)
and with appropriate amounts of excess
air to guarantee the quality of the clinker
being produced. The adoption of “LOW
NOx” burners and staged combustion
in precalciners are precisely ”primary
methods” widely used by the cement
industry with interesting results which,
however, are now often insuffi cient to
satisfy regulatory requirements. Parallel to
“primary methods”, “secondary methods”
have been developed aiming at acting on
NOx after their formation.
The most widely used “secondary method”
provides for the injection of aqueous
ammonia or urea solutions into the gas
stream leaving the rotary kiln at temperatures
of around 950°C, with consequent
23

24
Monselice cement plant: electrostatic precipitator for dedusting gases
to the catalytic system for NOx abatement
reaction among these compounds and the
nitrogen oxides to form elementary nitrogen
and water. This method, known as SNCR
(Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction), has
some advantages, including that of being
easily applicable also to existing plants,
especially dry process ones.
However, it also has drawbacks, including
that of releasing ammonia from the stack
(ammonia slip) when, with the intent to
minimize NOx emissions as much as possible,
reagent is added at higher rates than those
required by the reaction stoichiometry.
The simultaneous adoption of the abovedescribed
techniques allows cutting the
emissions from a cement kiln to 500 mg/
Nm 3 dry at 10% oxygen. Other industries
and the energy sector in particular have
been using another “secondary method”
for some time, namely the injection of
aqueous ammonia solution into the gas
stream at temperatures of around 350°C. In
this case, the reaction can take place only in
the presence of a catalyst, hence the name
of the method known as SCR (Selective
Catalytic Reduction). The catalyst consists
essentially of vanadium and titanium
oxides, mixed in appropriate proportions
and so arranged as to obtain hollow bricks
that maximize the surface/volume ratio
while minimizing the amount of catalyst
per volume unit of treated gas. In a cement
kiln, the temperature of gases exiting the
preheater is between 300°C and 350°C:
so, extending sic et simpliciter this kind
of technique to cement kilns would seem
feasible. For some time, attempts in this
direction have been made with unsuccessful
results, not so much in terms of reducing
emissions, but rather for the negative effects
on kiln performance, which showed disadvantages
in terms of energy consumption,
steady operating conditions and production
levels. Actually, the amount of dust in the
gases from the preheater is higher than the
amount measured in the hot gas circuit of
a coal boiler. Such a high amount of dust
clogs the narrow channels of the catalyst
requiring continuous cleaning by means
of high-pressure air jet cleaning, resulting
in higher energy consumption. Despite
cleaning, it is impossible to run the plant
correctly because of the frequent stops and
lower production levels.
Italcementi Group also wanted to verify the
real effi cacy of a catalytic system and did it
in a particular context: a Lepol kiln, characterized
by ammonia emissions from the raw
materials of some tens of milligrams per cubic
meter, was equipped with a catalytic system
very similar to the above mentioned ones,
in which, however, nitrogen oxides were
used to abate ammonia. The system has
proved to be very effi cient, also considering
that the dust contained in the gas was only
a few grams per cubic meter, thus demonstrating
that the only real hindrance to a
correct operation of the catalytic system
on a cement kiln is that of reducing the
concentration of dust transported by the
gas to be treated to values compatible
with the catalyst. After being discussed
and analyzed at length, the innovative idea
proposed by the Group Technical Center
was considered valid and fi nally patented.
This consisted in the installation of a technological
electrostatic precipitator between
the preheater’s exhaust gas outlet and the
inlet of the system (catalytic reactor) for
reducing dust to values which are certainly
at least compatible with the best operating
conditions required by the catalyst. The
electrostatic precipitator must work at
medium to high temperatures, as occurs
for similar plants treating emissions from
linker coolers. No specially high effi ciency is
needed since the dust concentration value
required downstream of the electrostatic
precipitator is still of the order of grams per
cubic meter. This solution will be applied to
all the new lines that are being designed for
Italian plants and for which the authorisation
process is in progress. The adoption
of this technique is expected to provide a
continuous NOx emission value of around
200 mg/Nm 3 under standard reference
conditions while ensuring continuity of
operation, equal throughput, reasonable
electricity consumption levels and, last
but not least, optimal preservation of the
catalyst. The emission level associated with
this technique corresponds to the value
specifi ed in the latest BAT document for
the cement industry, which updates the
2001 version. Among the BATs for nitrogen
oxides, the new document also indicates the
SCR technique, which, however, requires
further studies before its fi nal application.
New techniques for SO 2
emissions reduction
Though the problem of sulfur oxide
emission cannot be considered typical of
the cement industry, there are however
cases where the sulfi des present in the
raw materials may generate SO 2 emissions.
In fact, the sulfur added in the process is
oxidized at temperatures that are too low
to make its assimilation possible by reaction
with the alkaline materials present in the
kiln. It is well known, however, that sulfur

26
News
New applications for
cementitious materials
Unibéton
self-compacting
concretes are
adaptable to different
solutions
Extending the range of High Performance
concrete, the new self-compacting
concrete introduces the capability of
casting without vibration. This new ready
mixed concrete product enhances positive
characteristics such as reduced working
time frame, limited materials requirement,
better concrete casting quality, less
nuisance on neighbourhood, less strain for
workers. While highly fl uid, self-compacting
concretes provide similar resistance
Village hall of Mireuil, La Rochelle, France
and durability to traditional and high
performance concretes.
Their benefi ts may also be highlighted
through the aesthetic of the casted
product, the total cost and the delivery
time.
This innovation is also shifting business
dynamics towards new talents, towards
building effi ciency, added value, and is
leading the way into the development of
future products.
The Espace Kennedy
Unibéton, Italcementi Group’s subsidiary in
France specialising in ready mixed concrete,
responds to the needs of modern building
sites with technical skills and creativity. The
“Espace Kennedy”, an events and performance
hall in the Charente-Maritime
department, clearly demonstrates the

many architectural possibilities of the selfcompacting
concrete. This new cultural
space, located in avenue Kennedy in La
Rochelle, is part of a broader plan and will
host private and public events as well as
performances. This hall with a 400 seating
capacity is going to become the heart of
the local social life.
The 1,650 m 2 building consists of an entrance
to the lobby, a service area and a
few other service rooms. There is a double
access to the hall from the lobby on either
side of the service area. The construction
of the village hall of Mireuil in La Rochelle
presented constraints on the materials and
the installation technique. The architect
prescribed white 10m-high curved and
moulded walls: a major challenge that the
construction company overcame in partnership
with Unibéton by choosing white
self-compacting Isytecvoil concrete. This
building site implied 3 specifi c technical requests
for Unibéton: the use of a smooth
and homogenous concrete of a peculiar
white color (the fi rst application of white
self-compacting concrete in the region)
cast with moulded formworks.
In order to satisfy these requirements,
Unibéton developed and tested on site a
specifi c formulation combining strength,
fl uidity and dynamism related to viscosity.
This concrete contains white cement
CEM 2 42,5 Ciments Calcia and GSM
aggregates, it is a good mix of limestone
and superplasticizer and has an A/S (aggregates/sand)
ratio of about 1. The whole
façade of the building is decorated with
portraits of famous celebrities from the
world of entertainment. In addition to a
daring and aesthetic architecture, the Party
and Performance Hall of Mireuil is environmentally
friendly since it fully complies
with the HQE ® standards (HQE ® for
Special Industrial Concrete – High Environmental
Quality, and HPE for Very-high performance
fi bre-reinforced concrete – High
Energy Performance). The project manager
opted for procedures and materials contributing
to an environmentally friendly,
sustainable building.
The Metz hospital
Located less than seven kilometers away
from the city centre, this regional hospital
is built on an 11-hectar parcel of land. This
project, with a budget of 150 million euro,
is different from the traditional model of
hospital subdivided into different wards
“Chantier Bleu”: Metz hospital, France
since a net separation of activities is no
longer compatible with modern medical
practices. With a capacity of 640 beds
and a fl oor area of 87,000 m 2 the new
regional hospital consists of four blocks: a
surgery unit, a cardio-vascular and neurological
pole, a haematology, oncology and
pneumology ward and a medical-technical
facility with a central fl oor deck. This
“Chantier Bleu”, named after the environmental
management quality label
developed by Quille, has undergone
a prescription procedure and many
preliminary studies. The CTG carried out
temperature simulations to control the
temperature rise and the risk of cracking
among the different components of the
radiology room under control. In order to
improve the working conditions on this
building site and to comply with the Quille
label standards, the whole building (except
for the foundations) is erected with selfcompacting
concrete. With a capacity
of 30 m 3 /h, the mobile plant produced
about 50,000 m 3 of self-compacting
concrete with Axim Cimfl uid Adagio 2019
admixture. Morever, GSM provided four
different types of alluvial aggregates while
Tratel provided the two Unibéton units
with CEM II B 32,5 R and CEM I 52,5 N
from the Ciments Calcia plant in Rombas.
The Seine Aval
wastewater treatment plant
The Seine Aval wastewater treatment
plant, managed by the SIAAP (Syndicat interdépartemental
pour l’assainissement de
l’agglomération parisienne), is the world’s
second largest purifying station (after
the WWTP of Chicago) and, in the last few
years, was subject to a major renovation
plan aimed at improving its environmental
performance. The entire project involved
between 700,000 m 3 and 750,000 m 3 of
concrete supplied by a Unibéton
plant installed at the building
site (set up in one week) and its
local partner. The sewage treatment
building consisted of an
effl uent basin and an administrative
area. Only the latter is
visible while the rest, built inside
a 10m-deep excavation, is
covered with vegetation. The
basin, that contains 50,000 m 3
of water, is made of dense concrete
to guarantee its watertightness
and contains pre-walls. The
whole structure is built with BPSCC C 35/
45 XA2 containing CEM5 32,5 PMES as
recommended by SIAAP in order to offer
increased resistance to effl uents.
Currently the plant treats 30% of the nitrifi
ed water. Since the Directive on Urban
Wastewater Treatment requires this rate
to reach 70%, a 40% increase in the
treatment of nitrifi ed water will be attained
through the implementation of 18
watertight cells sealed between them and
connected to a pipe system. Since the cells
are anchored at 14m depth, the impact
on the neighboring water table had to be
taken into account and a groundwater
lowering was performed with 16 pumping
wells to be able to start working. The
thickness of the walls varies from 50 to
70 cm according to the areas. Finding the
adequate thickness is important to resist
the pressure of water (adjacent cells can
be either full or empty) and of the surrounding
ground because this structure is
underground too. However, it will not be
fi lled in and covered with vegetation but
rather surmounted by an aesthetic covering
in BSI - Special Industrial Concrete
(BFUP - VeryPerfetto Dariohigh performance
fi bre-reinforced concrete). In order
to meet the considerable needs of this
building site, Unibéton produced 11 formulas
for concrete on site, 2 of which
self-compacting and more fl uid, thus ideal
for structures with many metal parts. Four
formulas are CEM5-based and produce
high strength concretes suitable to aggressive
environments. Beds and walls are
in CEM5-based concrete. The parts not
directly in contact with the effl uents are
made of BPSCC C35/ 45 XC3 with CEM1
52,5 N. All these concretes contain sand
and aggregates from GSM. The CEM5based
compounds have been repeatedly
laboratory tested with SIKA and BASE.
27

28
With Effi x Design ® ,
Ciments Calcia opens
up a wide scope for
creative expression
Effi x Design ® is the result of research conducted
by Ciments Calcia and Italcementi’s
Research and Development Centre, CTG, in
collaboration with end users. This achievement,
which was originally intended to
develop a new ultra high performance
fibre-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC),
eventually evolved to give birth to a readyto-use
and self compacting creative binder
developed according to the technology
of ultra high performance concrete and
whose mechanical properties, although
stronger than traditional UHPC does not
systematically try to outdo them.
Effi x Design ® is characterized by its great
workability, fl exibility and ability to reproduce
the fi nest details. Because it is
able to closely fi t the most complex moulds
or formworks, it is particularly suited to delivering
small, thin and slender, smooth or
textured architectural elements. It provides
a total creative freedom for non-structural
applications or manufacture of short series
of pieces of furniture or objects.
This fl exibility meets the requirements of
various types of applications. This product
may, in fact, occupy a prominent place: tables,
chairs, worktops, sinks, washbasins.
Besides its many talents in interior design,
Effi x Design ® offers a real potential in art
(sculpture, vases, lamps, decorative objects
and so on) as well as in commercial archi-
Effi x Design ® may be used in all sorts of colour
tecture (layout of shops, concept stores,
display for luxury goods, reception desks).
It also has applications in urban and garden
furniture.
The objects created may display all sorts
of colour and material effects. In addition
to its two basic presentations, ivory and
cloud, Effi x Design ® is available in a large
variety of colours. Ciments Calcia has
developed a palette of 18 mineral pigment
based shades that can be mixed together.
UHPC (Ultra-high performance concrete) creative
binder Effi x Design: technical specifi cations
Packaging Available in 25 kg bags and big bags
Viscosity - Self-compacting fl uid mortar
- Malleable low running material
- Vibrationless casting
- No bleeding or segregation
Adjusting saturation can greatly expand
this palette to satisfy all colour requirements.
The very fi ne grain of the surfaces
treated allows lighting effects to beautifully
stress the mineral aspect and the appearance
of a “natural material”. This fi neness
of facings goes together with an excellent
durability and preservation of their qualities.
Effi x Design ® is perfectly resistant to
shocks thanks to the addition of fi bres in
its formulation, and to stains thanks par-
Mechanical properties - UHPC for non structural use: high strength at early age, ultra-high strength at mid-term
(130 MPa compressive strength and 15 MPa in fl exural strength after 28 days)
- Integrity and quality of panel maintained after a shock (order of magnitude 10 joules)
- Fast demoulding and handling (24 hours)
Photocatalytic effect - Self-cleaning action against organic dirt
- De-polluting action: reduction of NO (Nitrogen oxides) and VOC (volatile organic compounds)
x

What is the albedo
The albedo (from Latin albēdo, “whiteness”, in turn from album, “white”) of a
surface expresses the ratio of the amount of solar radiation refl ected by a surface
to the total amount of radiation reached by the same surface. Generally, materials that
are light-coloured in the spectrum of visible light have high solar refl ectance and dark
materials have low solar refl ectance. Hence, surfaces with lower refl ectance absorb
more solar radiation. This demonstrates that colour tone and material composition
clearly affect the maximum achievable temperature.
ticularly to its low porosity. It can therefore
be used for all types of equipments, from
the kitchen to the bathroom.
Moreover, for projects intended for
outdoor exposure, Ciments Calcia has
equipped Effi x Design ® with a photocatalytic
version through the use of the
TX Active ® concept, whose de-polluting
and self-cleaning action contributes to
improving our living environment. Effi x
Design ® is very easy to implement. It is
available in 25kg bags on covered pallets,
or big bags to suit all types of needs, the
latest production of the UHPC is ready
for use after mixing it with water. It is a
self-compacting product with controlled
fl owability and malleability, which remains
suffi ciently thick to ensure a good performance
in the moulds and fast removal
from formworks. It doesn’t suffer from any
A photocatalytic pavement in an urban area of Paris
segregation or bleeding, therefore there is
no resurfacing of binder on treated articles,
it remains perfectly homogeneous.
Photocatalytic
Cementitious
Pavements
Policies aimed at revitalizing urban areas
are increasingly focusing on quality of
life improvements, pollution control
and socio-economic development. It is
against this background that we can fi nd
interesting applications of TX Active ® ,
the photocatalytic active principle for
cement products patented by Italcementi
Group. Besides its depolluting properties,
TX Active ® is specially recommended to
reduce the so-called “urban heat island”
effect, a phenomenon that causes urban
areas to be 2 to 4°C warmer than their
surrounding areas. This temperature
difference is mostly due to the dark colours
of buildings and horizontal surfaces (roofs,
roads, squares and sidewalks), that have
gradually replaced trees and vegetation in
the process of strong urban growth.
Recent studies show a clear relationship
between the use of bright cementitious
materials characterized by their high solar
refl ection (commonly known as albedo)
and the reduction of the “urban heat
island” effect, thereby saving energy for
cooling buildings, car parks and roads and
improving air quality. Further, if we consider
that the formation of smog is highly
sensitive to temperatures, a reduction of
ozone formation during summer period
is also possible (ozone is a highly oxidizing
and irritating gas and is the main ingredient
of urban smog). An even more signifi cant
contribution may come from the use of
photocalytic cementitious materials not only
reduce the “urban heat island” effect,
but also keep surfaces clear over time (selfcleaning)
and further reduce air pollution
(depolluting). This is one of the reasons
why TX Active ® has been successful not
only in architectural applications but also
on roads and sidewalks. A clear example
of success concerning the application of a
29

30
TX Active ® photocatalytic whitetopping is
rue Jean Bleuzen in the Vanves district of
Paris, which was awarded the “Roc d’Or”.
For this reason a “pilot” study has been
already completed in cooperation with
Politecnico di Milano, regarding modeling
of the combined “urban heat island”/
photocatalysis phenomenon, with the
intention to test the developed system
on a specifi c area of Milan, including an
experimental site monitoring air and environmental
parameters for a determined
period of time.
Partnership
agreement with the
University of Malaga
for a new Chair
for Innovation
The Rector of the University of Malaga,
Adelaida de la Calle and Fabrizio Pedetta,
Managing Director of FYM, Italcementi
Group’s subsidiary in Spain, signed a
partnership agreement to form the “Chair
for Innovation in Construction Materials”.
This chair will establish collaborative
projects between the UMA School of
Architecture and FYM aimed at boosting
training activities and community
initiatives in Malaga on cement, mortar,
concrete and new construction materials.
Ricard Pié, Director of the UMA School
of Architecture, explained that a new
UMA course called “New Materials. Key
Techniques in Architectural Planning” will
be created and will amount to a total of
six credits. Practical training, a forum for
exchanging opinions and knowledge,
promotion of an annual idea contest
awarding students for the originality
and viability of proposals using new
materials in architectural fi elds, creation
of diverse publications to publicise the
results of dissemination and training
activities, as well as talks and conferences
The new Chair for Innovation in Construction Materials at the University of Malaga
is a good example of how industry and the academic world can closely cooperate
Photocatalytic cementitious materials
might be used for the following applications
Applications Traditional materials Photocatalytic cementitious
materials
Flooring (roads, sidewalks)
Roofi ng Asphalt shingle, bricks,
plastics
Horizontal and vertical
coatings
Asphalt (bituminous facing) Concrete
Interlocking concrete blocks
Various materials
(paints, metals, etc.)
Street furniture Various materials
(paints, metals, etc.)
Finishes of buildings
and other structures
Various materials
(plastics, metals, etc.)
Extruded cement tiles
Paints and fi lling smoothing
compounds
White or gray concrete
White or gray concrete
are some of the main initiatives foreseen
thanks to this partnership agreement
between FYM and the UMA. The Chair
for Innovation in Construction Materials
is accessible to students in the second
year of Architecture and will include a
teaching team comprised of professors
from the University of Malaga School of
Architecture. As further confi rmation of
the mutual commitment between FYM
and UMA, a new course within the Chair
has been recently presented called “New
Materials. Technical keys in the architectural
project”.

MATREC: the value
of building
material waste
Aggregates are natural resources that
deserve specifi c attention not only in
production phase but also in usage and
recovery. Over years, the strong commitment
towards a sustainable management of the
quarries and the development of innovative
solutions in recycling of concrete building
materials have been consistent with the
general trends in the policy of GSM,
Italcementi Group’s subsidiary in France
specialising in the aggregate business.
Besides the recognition in the environmental
management of its quarry activities, GSM
is driving initiatives in the fi eld of building
material recycling such as the one in Lille,
a large community in the North of France.
To provide a sensible solution to an urban
concern, the disposal of deconstruction
material waste, was the challenge that
GSM has been taking up since 2004 with
the “MATREC project” (MAT: materials;
REC: recyclable). On the commercial
platform, storing “fi rst hand” aggregates,
there are now between 50 and 70 K tons of
sub products coming from building material
waste. Formerly discharged into a rubbish
dump, they are now recycled, treated,
valorised and commercialised. Upon receipt,
these materials are crushed and mixed with
lime or cement to provide quality products
mainly for road undercoat, embanked road
or fi lling for drain.
Meeting customer
needs with Coloured
and Filter concrete
Set, Italcementi Group’s subsidiary in
Turkey, collaborated in the architectural
project for the Istanbul Technical University
Metrology Center Building containing
Coloured concrete surfaces with visible
aggregates texture, whose design was
fi nalized after some tests on different
colour tones. In close collaboration with
both the architects and the construction
fi rm, Set produced various alternative
colour scales using pigments in liquid
and dust forms, from several companies,
with different mix-designs. The samples
provided were also used by the construction
fi rm to test the sand blasting process
and to visualize the fi nal surface for the
Building material waste can be treated, recycled, valorised and commercialised
architects. The coloured concrete was also
requested to be Self Levelling Concrete.
Therefore, further tests were performed
to ensure the pigments did not react with
Filter concrete
the specifi c chemical additives used for the
SLC property.
Filter concrete is a porous concrete that
is water permeable. It is most commonly
used in outdoor fl oors and retaining walls
to allow proper drainage of rain water.
Set provided about 1,000 m 3 of fi lter
concrete to meet the needs of its client
for the Harbiye Congress Valley project.
Walking areas and terraces accounting for
a total area of 12,000 m 2 were covered
with granite tiles with a 2 cm spacing. In
order to enable uniform drainage of the
fl oors, the client requested a concrete that
would be water pereable. Set suggested
the use of fi lter concrete beneath the tiles
and bedding it with an isolation layer that
drained the accumulated water.
31

Sustainable Development Magazine 2010