Build With Strength, Colorado Team Up to Present Symposium on Low Carbon Concrete

Build With Strength and the Colorado Ready Mixed Concrete Association (CRMCA) recently sponsored a symposium titled Executing Low Carbon Concrete in Greenwood Village where more than 100 of the state's structural engineers, architects, contractors and specifiers took part in a full day of discussion centering on decarbonizing ready mixed concrete while achieving reduced embodied carbon through currently available technologies of low carbon concrete strategies, reports NRMCA Senior Director, Building Innovations Patrick Matsche. He credited the ACI-Rocky Mountain, Structural Engineers Association of Colorado (SEA-CO) and American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC) for supporting the event.

Panelists included local ready mix and cement producers, structural engineers, contractors, academics and policy leaders involved in the creation and implementation of Denver’s and Colorado’s sustainable carbon reduction codes and standards. Matsche's Build With Strength/NRMCA colleagues Tiffany Reed-Villarreal and Brandon Wray joined him in moderating panels titled Denver and National Codes and Standards; Specifying Concrete for the Future; Contractor Project Case Studies and How to Measure, Ready Mix and Cement Suppliers. Contractors presented a project profile and the day closed with panelists discussing the need for collaboration among multiple stakeholders.

“This symposium to address the lowering of carbon emissions was the right event at the right time,” said Todd Ohlheiser, E.D. CRCMA and NRMCA Board member. NRMCA members and guests from Illinois, California, Arizona, Indiana, Texas, Florida, Carolinas, Oregon, Utah and Washington State also attended the event.

Matsche said special thanks goes to presenters and panelists, including Dana Rotkovich, Stephan Herald, Russel Valerio, Bill Meek, McKenzie Glass, Dorian Krausz, Christopher Senseney, Michael Lyons, Oscar Antommattei, Mike Eads, Brad Charvet, Evan Palmer, Tyler Hamilton, Candace Wheat & J.T. Masite. In addition, he said CRMCA staff Emma Dolan, Megan Kinghorn, J.T. Masite and Todd Ohlheiser, CR Minerals and GCC of America, which provided additional financial resources, also should be credited with a successful event. (Seen here, from left to right, are Brandon Wray, NRMCA; Dana Rotkovich, BURNCO-CO; McKenzie Glass, Denver city official; Mike Eads, GH Phipps and Patrick Matsche, NRMCA.)

Thanks to the commitment of the ready mixed concrete industry, NRMCA is recognized as a leading advocate, spearheading the effort to reduce and eliminate embodied carbon in buildings, roads and infrastructure," Matsche said. "Build With Strength is extremely proud to lead educational efforts toward the goal of net zero embodied carbon in construction materials by 2050. The Colorado event represents NRMCA’s ongoing efforts to build safe, sustainable and resilient communities across America."

The Build With Strength program is a leader in supporting structural engineers, architects and specifiers in the specification of low carbon, high-performance concrete. For more information, contact Patrick Matsche at pmatsche@nrmca.org or call 415-672-5275.