Construction World December 2021

COVER STORY

In celebration of 20 years of ConstructionWorld’s annual Best Projects Awards, this cover article explores the evolution of cement, aggregates and concrete over the past two decades – and the contribution made by AfriSam over this period. 20 YEARS OF EVOLUTION IN CEMENT, AGGREGATE, CONCRETE

A s the official sponsor of the AfriSam Innovation Award for Sustainable Construction, AfriSam is committed to advancement and best practice in the sector, according to sales and Marketing Executive Richard Tomes. “It is commendable that Construction World has regularly hosted the Best Projects Award, and we regard the event as an important date on the industry’s calendar,” says Tomes. “This kind of recognition of excellence is vital to spur the construction sector onto greater heights, especially with the range of challenges it faces today.” He notes that the cement sector has had its fair share of ups and downs over this time. South Africa’s re-entry into the global economy after its first democratic elections in 1994 saw the disbandment of the government-sanctioned cement cartel, in accordance with World Trade Organisation principles of fair competition. The years that followed saw the two largest global cement players moving into the local market, with AfriSam (then Alpha) becoming part of Holcim and Blue Circle being acquired by Lafarge. Boom times “The new government’s Reconstruction and Development Programme spurred a number of housing programmes, which created added demand for cement and concrete products,” he says. “The real boom for the sector, however, came in 2004 when South Africa won the bid to host the FIFA Soccer World Cup in 2010.” This led to a spike in infrastructure investment, from the building of the Gautrain and upgrading of soccer stadiums and airports, to the roll-out of new road networks and associated structures. Local cement production capacity at that stage stood at about 7 million tonnes, he says, but demand grew rapidly and peaked at 15 million tonnes in 2007. “Local producers ran out of capacity and – with good margins at the time – opted to import cement to supplement requirements,” he says. “It was essential that the country meet the demands and deadlines for this prestigious global event, which promised so much in terms of visitors, tourism and our international reputation.”

Market set-backs The demand growth also stimulated more local cement capacity with new facilities and kilns, as well as the entry of two new players who each built their own production facilities in the country. Sadly, the good times were not to last; 2008 saw a global financial crisis which caused economies to slow drastically, and the start of considerable political uncertainty at home. By the time South Africa’s two new cement producers brought their plants on-stream in 2015 and 2016, trading conditions had worsened, and a price war had ensued – reducing margins for all players. Tomes notes that margins in the cement sector have dropped by two-thirds since 2010. “With a steady decline in government spending on infrastructure since 2015, the demand for cement has continued to suffer,” he says. “This has led to a situation where the industry’s supply capacity is around 20 Mt, while the demand is only about 13 Mt.” Sustainability Despite the challenging market conditions in recent years, AfriSam has remained at the forefront of technical advances to reduce carbon emissions and the overall environmental impact of cement production. These have been driven by the imperatives of both commercial efficiency and environmental sustainability, according to AfriSam Executive Cementitious Hannes Meyer. “Over the past 20 years, we have reduced the volume of carbon dioxide produced per tonne of cement by about 30%,” says Meyer. “Our drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions began as early as 2001, focused initially on finding ways to use less clinker in our cement as clinker production is energy intensive.” The energy consumed in making an ordinary Portland Cement can be up to 25% more than the extended or composite cements that the company has developed, with the inclusion of fly ash or ground granulated blast-furnace slag. With leading experts in the organisation, AfriSam has been a leader in composite cement technology, creating benchmarks for others to follow, he says. “We have even gone another step further in terms of

4 20 th Best Project Awards 2021