Sustainability / 8/23/2023

Only innovative, sustainable solutions will be successful

We spoke with Neil McConomy, Operations Manager at Roadstone, about the concrete industry and sustainability

interviewee

Neil McConomy

Operations Manager, Roadstone

How important is sustainability for Roadstone? What do you do to contribute to this global challenge?

Sustainability is crucial to Roadstone and CRH, the Group we belong to. In recent years, we have launched a huge sustainability program with the business ambition to be net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and we are committed to actively improving the built environment by integrating sustainability into everything we do. The new CRH Sustainability Framework identifies three main global challenges: decarbonization, waste and water. We are accelerating existing levers to decarbonize our operations and supply chain and we are partnering to innovate new technologies and solutions. CRH has an absolute group-wide carbon emissions reduction of 30% to be achieved by 2030 on a 2021 base year. As part of this target Roadstone has committed to reducing absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 42% by 2030 from a 2021 base year.

We are testing several solutions to achieve this target including the use clean energy like using renewable energy sources such as solar panels. We are also adopting several innovating solutions (pumping water, etc.) to ensure energy efficiency and savings in the use of natural resources.

In the formulations of our products, we are aiming to reduce our burden on raw materials such as sand, by increasing our use of secondary or recycled materials such as crushed rock fines (CRF). When using secondary and recycled materials, admixture performance is critical to ensure we maintain the high level of quality and material performance that is expected from us by our customers. Roadstone are also optimizing the logistics of our operations by aiming to use alternative plants that are closer to customers and ensuring trucks are backloaded where possible. As part of Roadstone’s carbon reduction roadmap to 2030 we are trialing the use of alternative fuels such as Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), which can reduce the emissions of our transportation fleet by up to 90%.

In addition, we have a well-established sustainability team that continues to grow to ensure that we are creating value for all by developing sustainable solutions that build, connect and improve our world.

Roadstone has committed to reducing absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 42% by 2030 from a 2021 base year.

Roadstone, just like Mapei, has been involved in prestigious projects where concrete was the natural choice of building material. How can we together as an industry reduce the carbon footprint of concrete without losing its strength and durability?

The big challenge of key players of the building industry is to be able to engage and influence the customers before they make crucial design decisions, which is something quite different from the traditional consumer journey that used to work in the past. We will have to propose solutions to our customers well before than in the past and only innovative, sustainable solutions will be successful. Therefore, I see a big potential for joint initiatives and operations between Mapei and Roadstone since we have the same goals of providing high-tech, sustainable solutions for customers. For instance, we are both working on developing low carbon concrete products and reducing carbon in cement. To this purpose we are considering using Mapei solutions such as those belonging to the CUBE SYSTEM (Admixtures and strength enhancers for Low carbon concrete using Secondary cementitious materials) and the RE-CON LIne (Admixtures and methods for increasing circular material flows in concrete production).

Roadstone representative visited the Mapei plant in Robbiano di Mediglia in June, 2023.

ROADSTONE

The origins of Roadstone go back to the early 1930’s when two young Dublin brothers Tom and Donal Roche started a sand and gravel haulage business at Inchicore in the suburbs of West Dublin. They launched a new company, Roadstone, on the Irish Stock Exchange in 1949. By the end of the 60’s, Irish Cement had become the largest industrial Company quoted on the Irish Stock Exchange with Roadstone the third largest. In 1970 the two companies merged to become Cement-Roadstone Holdings now known as CRH plc. CRH is a leading building materials business in the world, employing 71,000 people at 3,200 operating locations in 28 countries. CRH manufactures and supplies a range of integrated building materials, products and innovative end-to-end solutions for a wide range of construction projects from major public infrastructure to homes and commercial buildings. CRH has a strong presence in North America, is a regional leader in Europe and has a growing presence in the Asian economies of India and China.

Find out more on:
Roadstone
To learn more on Mapei solutions for a more sustainable concrete industry visit: CIS - Mapei- solutions for concrete