A recent trip to Kansas City, MO, brought into focus the latest developments on the Second + Delaware multi-family project led by Arnold Development Group that was introduced to NRMCA members at last fall’s ConcreteWorks event in San Antonio. The excavation is nearly complete and the footings are being placed. The project – a landmark urban redevelopment effort that will bring hundreds of new residents to Kansas City’s up and coming River District – is also the largest Passive House structure in the United States with more than 280 units of affordable and market rate housing. Passive House is a German energy efficiency standard that requires a building to meet extremely stringent building performance standards. This is where concrete truly shines: the completed building will save residents an estimated 80% on their energy bills in large part because of concrete’s contributions to the building.

The entire building will be enclosed by 10 inches of ready mixed concrete comprising its exterior walls. The concrete – to be supplied by Ash Grove Materials Corporation and Fordyce Concrete – will surround six inches of foam insulation and create a building that was designed to last hundreds of years. The exposed concrete floors and interior face of the exterior walls help to create the ultra-cool living spaces that millenials and others clamor for.

Conversations with a number of project team members highlighted how they see this project shaping the future of multi-family development in the United States and beyond. The project’s investor left little doubt that investors in multi-family development arena are keeping a close eye on the Second + Delaware project. He explained concrete’s pivotal role in safeguarding the investment for the long term and stressed they will build these types of projects once developers understand that there are investment dollars available.

Jonathan Arnold, President and CEO of Kansas City’s Arnold Development Group believes that combining concrete’s intrinsic value with forward-thinking financing and project delivery models’ will provide a template to meet the enormous housing production needs we can expect to face in the years ahead in this country.

Last Wednesday, NRMCA Vice President of Compliance and Regulatory Affairs Kevin Walgenbach testified before the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on sleep apnea's affect on mixer truck drivers. The joint FMCSA/FRA listening session, the final of three sessions, was scheduled to gather information from stakeholders on a potential rulemaking on obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) among commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers, including mixer truck drivers.

In March, both FMCSA/FRA published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) OSA. While the ANPRM doesn’t establish or propose any new regulations regarding OSA, it does launch somewhat of a fishing expedition for FMCSA on the issue in an attempt to gather information from potential covered stakeholders FMCSA may use to propose new OSA regulations at a later date. The listening sessions continues the FMCSA/FRA efforts.

Walgenbach told officials that NRMCA is currently opposed to any new mandate for OSA screenings. He noted that "the current regulatory framework is sufficient to address drivers with OSA." More pointedly, he stated that in large part there is a great divide between what the current regulations say on medical disorders and how certified medical examiners actually evaluate drivers seeking a medical card to accompany their commercial drivers license. Walgenbach noted "that many different factors can lead to fatigue beyond OSA and many different factors can lead to crashes involving large trucks beyond OSA. To this point we believe that any such regulation will need to be based on sound science, data and comprehensive analysis and, we suggest, likely a pilot program to reasonably evaluate how such a mandate would be practically achieved, enforced and what the accompanying overall costs will truly be."

Problems surrounding the issue regarding medical coverage and the high cost were also mentioned. Walgenbach closed his comments by stating, "if the pitfalls highlighted cannot be avoided and any new rule is NOT based on sound science, any perceived increase in safety will NOT be realized."

The May 2016 issue CP RoadMap, the newsletter of the Concrete Pavement Tech Center, is now available online. Highlights include:

 

• Recent research report on testing thin (4 to 8 in) roller compacted concrete (RCC) pavements;

• National Concrete Consortium (NCC) state survey on discharge time limits for non-agitating trucks;

• Evaluation of continuously fiber-reinforced concrete for highway pavements by the Louisiana DOT;

• Use of glass beads in pavement concrete to reduce pavement temperature; and

• FHWA Tech Brief on types, availability, benefits and proper use of supplementary cementitious materials.

 

The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has scheduled this annual workshop for July 25-29 at its offices in Skokie, IL. The Professors’ Workshop is designed to provide faculty in engineering, architecture and construction management programs the tools to teach the latest developments in concrete design, construction, materials, pavements and sustainability. The week-long event includes networking opportunities to facilitate exchanging ideas with professors from many universities. PCA and concrete industry sponsors, including NRMCA, support this workshop as a means to help ensure that the fundamentals of using concrete for roads, buildings, bridges and infrastructure projects are understood and facilitated by the next generation of designers and engineers.

 

The registration fee for the workshop is $395 and includes hand-out materials, PowerPoint presentations, resource literature (with a value greater than $2,500), lunches and receptions. Space is limited to a first come, first served basis. Local groups are encouraged to sponsor faculty at nearby universities.

 

NRMCA’s Developing Industry Leaders (DIL) program is accepting nominations through Monday, June 15, for a limited number of middle managers to challenge themselves by thinking about an issue our industry faces. The goal of the DIL project is to broaden participants’ understanding of the ready mixed concrete industry at a more strategic, long-term level while giving them the opportunity to also work on a team with a diverse group of peers from across the country. This peer-centric program, with its accompanying industry mentorship, allows participants to not only make lifelong, career friends, but to also gain insight into a specific national challenge.

This program differs from other association programs in that individuals are placed on a team. Each DIL team chooses a separate topic to research and address over the fall and winter months. The group first meets at ConcreteWorks, where it is expected to attend various committee meetings so it can gain insight from senior managers from many perspectives. The DILs then return home to continue their work via conference calls, e-mails and Webinars with their team. The DILs reconvene in March at NRMCA's Annual Convention where individual teams formally present their findings during NRMCA’s semi-annual membership meeting. After that, the DILs are invited to become active on a committee of their choice so they can bring expertise with fresh, new insight to the working body.

 

There is no fee for the DIL program, nevertheless, DILs are expected to attend ConcreteWorks in September and the Annual Convention in March.

 

June 6 - 8, Silver Spring, MD

Concrete Durability Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

June 28 - July 1, Centennial, CO

Plant Manager Certification Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

June 23, Webinar

Seven Things You Can Do To Place More Concrete in Buildings

Email: Lionel Lemay, 847-918-7101

 

June 28, Ronkonkoma, NY

Building Green With Concrete

Email: Tien Peng, 206-913-8535

 

June 30, Fairfax, VA

Building Green With Concrete

Email: Tien Peng, 206-913-8535 

 

September 18 - 20, Nashville, TN

NRMCA's ConcreteWorks 2016

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

October 4 - 7, Silver Spring, MD

CCSP Module I: Concrete 101

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

October 11, Webinar

Recruiting & Hiring Top Performing Ready Mix Sales Reps

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

November 7-11, Silver Spring, MD

Annual "Short Course"

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

December 6, Webinar 

Sales Performance Assessments and Reviews... for Ready Mix Sales Managers

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

December 13-16, Anaheim, CA

Plant Manager Certification Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

The NRMCA Pervious Concrete Promotion Subcommittee will hold a conference call on Wednesday, June 15, at 2 p.m. Eastern time. Topics of discussion will include progress reports on the development of three new Pervious In Practice documents and updates regarding ongoing research at Washington State University and the Tennessee Concrete Association. The conference call is open to all NRMCA members and invited guests. Call in number is 866-670-0780 and the conference code is 6909824.

With LEED v4 preparing to be officially launched in October 2016, recent activity has provided manufacturers more options for meeting the Material Ingredient Disclosure credit. These include:

 

• The American Architect Institute (AIA) recently published a guidance document for its audience. The report provides guidance for an architect when selecting products based on environmental or health impact disclosure.

• The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced that the Living Future Institute’s Declare label is now an approved pathway for Option 1 of the Material Ingredients credit for LEED v4. Please see more details here.

• USGBC has announced a new LEED pilot credit - Building Material Human Hazard & Exposure Assessment - which encourages project teams and manufacturers to assess human health related exposure scenarios for products during their installation and use phases. The pilot credit seeks to reward manufacturers who perform hazard and exposure assessments that can serve as a basis for developing products designed to minimize human health impacts during installation and use of the products.

 

To support the concrete industry for evolving material transparency, NRMCA recently published a Material Ingredient Reporting Guidance document. The guide, funded by the RMC Research & Education Foundation, offers explanation and provides pathways for concrete producers to contribute toward LEED v4 Material Ingredients credit. In addition to presenting compliance paths, this report recommends the most practical and inexpensive pathway for the majority of concrete producers for establishing the necessary information for delivering on the credit criteria. Click here to read the report.

The current NRMCA Internet Spotlight good through Tuesday, June 7, is the Guide to Preparing RMC Job Descriptions CD-Rom. This CD includes over 500 sample job descriptions submitted by some of the leading concrete firms in the country. Also included on the CD are guidelines for writing job descriptions and a post offer screen manual. The purpose of the post offer screen is to determine if the applicant can safely perform the physical demands of the job or if reasonable accommodations can be given following ADA guidelines. These job descriptions can be easily downloaded and customized for your company's use.

 

The second Internet Spotlight, also good through June 7, is the driver training DVD Road Call. This 14-minute video lesson demonstrates the proper, safe and legal procedures to follow in the event of a mixer truck being disabled along a roadway.