Last week, the Pacific Northwest Economic Region's 27th Annual Summit brought together leaders from Pacific Northwest states and Western Canada to discuss opportunities for growth within the region and address major challenges to the economy and our environment. NRMCA Vice President, Sustainability, Tien Peng was present and supported members and affiliates of the Pacific Northwest Building Resilience Coalition (PNBRC). Along with NRMCA members CalPortland and Knife River, and affiliates Bruce Chattin of WACA and Rich Angstrom of OCAPA, the coalition engaged legislators in an informal environment outside of capital halls on key issues affecting the concrete industry such as cross laminated timber, building codes, energy efficiency and resilience. NRMCA also provided supporting material from the Build with Strength campaign and joined members at hosted receptions for legislators.

Dr. Randolph Kirchain from the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub gave the keynote address on the second day of the summit. He described the Break Even Hazard Mitigation research findings which concluded that quantifying the value of hazard resistance is possible and that hazard repair cost can approach conventional construction costs when looking at the life cycle perspective. Dr. Kirchain encouraged all stakeholders to invest in resilience.