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concreteTHE MAGAZINE OF THE CONCRETE SOCIETY Volume 54 July 2020 Issue 06 Visit: www.concrete.org.uk ‘Modern and comfortable living’ Concrete’s versatility shown at Barrow House Historic concrete Low-carbon construction The Isokon building, Hampstead Cement opportunities Contents 3 From the Editor 4 World News 6 Society News Batching Plant, Concrete Equipment 8 Exploring the impact of engine idling Karl Rudman 10 Modular design batching plant Concrete report Ready-Mixed Concrete 12 Keeping concrete construction moving in the face of Covid-19 Helen Frape 14 Structural concrete in a zero-carbon future Paul Astle 16 Concrete and contracts: design responsibility Lucinda Robinson and Jesse Way Water-Resistant Construction 18 A systematic approach to designing a below-ground waterproofing solution Simon Morris 21 How can we use the indisputable laws of physics to our advantage? Alex Burman Glass-fibre-reinforced Concrete 24 Biophilic design: connecting GRC to nature Bernhard Stömmer Historic Concrete 26 The Isokon or Lawn Road Flats, Hampstead: A Modern masterpiece Edwin Trout 30 Telegraph Hotel set to become icon of Coventry’s cityscape Sophie Davies Architecture and Design 34 Barrow House, Lincolnshire Concrete report 36 Grey supporting green Elaine Toogood Low-carbon Construction 38 Low-carbon cement opportunities Nina Cardinal 40 Features List/Ad Index/Subscriptions concrete magazine is produced in-house by The Concrete Society, The July 2020 cover a not-for-profit, independent membership organisation dedicated to The East Midlands’ only Area of supporting the use of concrete, the most widely used building material in Outstanding Natural Beauty, the the world. CoverLincolnshire StoryWolds, has some of the region’s most beautiful scenery, Established in 1966, and with members from around with rolling hills, hidden valleys and the world, The Society has built on its technical base quaint villages. Now, this rural haven to become a leading provider of information, serving also boasts the 2019 Local Authority the needs of clients, architects, engineers, specifiers, Building Control ‘Best Individual suppliers, contractors and users of concrete. New Home’, Barrow House. See page 34. Visit: www.concrete.org.uk Follow concrete on Pinterest Go to pinterest.com/concretemag/boards, click on a board to view images from projects featured in current and past issues. Share images with Follow: @ukConcrete Find us on: others within the concrete community. AWARDS AWARDS20202020 Congratulations to the 2020 Shortlist from which the winners will be chosen NOMINATED BY ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET, LONDON BANAGHER PRECAST CONCRETE LOCAL BLACKFRIARS, SALFORD, GREATER MANCHESTER TECHRETE UK LONDON CITY AIRPORT, LONDON BAM NUTTALL NORTH LONDON RESIDENCE, LONDON DECONSTRUCT (UK) SOBORO, LONDON KENNEDY TWADDLE ST PAUL’S SCHOOL - GENERAL TEACHING BUILDING, LONDON WALTERS & COHEN ARCHITECTS THE MARSHALL BUILDING, LONDON GETJAR LTD THE STANDARD, LONDON ORMS TOWN HOUSE AT KINGSTON UNIVERSITY, KINGSTON UPON THAMES GRAFTON ARCHITECTS UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS MUSIC CENTRE, ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND STEPHENSON CONSTRUCTION (NORTH) WOOD LANE ELECTRICAL SUBSTATION, LONDON ANDREWS ASSOCIATES Premier sponsor www.concrete-awards.org.uk For further information about The Society Awards email: [email protected] or call: 01276 607140 Supporting sponsors FROM THE EDITOR EDITOR: James Luckey Tel: +44 (0)1276 607158 [email protected] EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Helen Marney Tel: +44 (0)1276 607159 Hiding to nothing [email protected] TECHNICAL ADVISOR: Who’d be in Government? Certainly the past few months have been the hardest Richard Day for politicians to navigate the country through and it is unlikely that MPs from any DESIGN: colour of the political spectrum ever thought they’d have to deal with such seismic Darryl Killoran times. Add to that the curious societal expectation that our legislators always SALES REPRESENTATIVE: achieve professional perfection and it’s easy to see why being in Government is a Fred Combe hiding to nothing. Tel: +44 (0)20 3859 7097 [email protected] or every positive development, industry bodies queuing up with demands for James Pembroke Media Ltd is for example paying the wages of more money, reform and tax relief. The Concrete Society’s appointed advertising sales agency. employees and self-employed, there Supply chain delays, labour shortages and F are at least two negatives – a slow cashflow with dwindling reserves are likely SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER: testing regime and lack of PPE. One step up to be the biggest barriers to construction Val Goddard and two steps back, it seems. progress in the months ahead. This is why the Tel: +44 (0)1276 607149 But dealing with a global situation Government has faced calls for: a reduction [email protected] unprecedented in human experience (or at in VAT on repair and maintenance work; a least modern experience) was always going national retrofit strategy (from the Federation concrete is published 10 times a year (2020) and sent free to all Concrete Society members. to be subject to make-it-up-as-you-go-along of Master Builders); major reforms to the Annual prepaid subscriptions for 2020: policy, albeit with the hope that lessons are CITB in order to support sector skills (by UK £125, Europe £150, outside Europe £170 learned for the future. the National Federation of Builders); and (prices inc. p&p). Single copies and back issues: £15 (exc. p&p). Coping with the aftermath, putting reform of the mineral planning system (by the the economy and life in general back Mineral Products Association). THE CONCRETE SOCIETY together again after major disruption – well, And that’s all before individual President: humankind has long experience and one organisation’s demands for stamp duty cuts, Deiniol Williams would hope that it is surer ground for our safer sites to include more biometrics and politicians. longer site hours during the summer. That’s Managing Director: So, it will be interesting to watch quite the shopping list. Kathy Calverley MBE developments over the coming weeks and There’s every reason to hope and believe The Concrete Society, months to see the policy decisions made to that many of these calls will be listened to Riverside House, 4, Meadows Business Park, restore health – both personal and economic sympathetically. After all, the speed at which Station Approach, Blackwater, – to the country. the industry recovers will depend much on Camberley, Surrey GU17 9AB, UK Tel: +44 (0)1276 607140 As with the previous recession, the Tor y Government stimulus packages, as well as Fax: +44 (0)1276 607141 administration has already made moves for sector confidence. e-mail: [email protected] the country to build its way out of trouble But in juggling all this and similar calls www.concrete.org.uk and the fact that construction was the first from other industries (and at some point, Printed by Bishops Printers industry encouraged back to work during the country has to pay for it all too), being in Portsmouth, Hampshire lockdown is surely a sign that its importance Government is a hiding to nothing indeed. © The Concrete Society, 2020 is recognised. Enjoy the issue! ISSN 0010-5317 Although it may seem an age ago, the Budget in March made a pledge of Neither Concrete nor The Concrete Society are gargantuan investment in infrastructure, responsible for the statements made or the opinions with around £640 billion for roads, railways, expressed in this journal by third parties and communications, schools, hospitals and organisations. power networks across the UK by 2024–25. Added to that were further billions for James Luckey, Editor housing and flood protection. Tel: 01276 607158 A further sign of ‘normal’ life returning is [email protected] www.concrete.org.uk JULY 2020 concrete 3 WORLD NEWS NEWS IN BRIEF Heat-treated fly ash may UK • Obituary The Concrete Society is sad to hear improve geopolymer of the passing of past President Tony Cusens, who held office from 1983 to 1984. Tony died on 30 May at the age concrete alkali attack levels of 93. A full obituary will be published RESEARCHERS at the University exposed to highly alkaline mediums, in the September issue of Concrete. UK concrete pour of Johannesburg have found that such as some chemical storage high-temperature heat treatment facilities. The findings of our new record at Hinkley Portugal • Symposium can reduce low resistance to extreme study show that the alkali resistance OPERATIVES building the Hinkley The fib Symposium 2021 will be held alkali attack in fly ash geopolymer of geopolymer concrete can be Point C nuclear power station have in Lisbon, Portugal on 14–16 June 2021, concrete by half, improving its significantly improved by exposing it completed the 49,000-tonne base gathering together professionals, durability. to an elevated temperature, optimally researchers, and students from all for the station’s second reactor Fly ash generated by coal-fired 200°C,” added Dr Naghizadeh. over the world to discuss ‘Concrete on schedule. The power station in power stations creates groundwater In the research published in Case Structures: New Trends for Eco- Somerset will produce reliable low- and air pollution from vast landfills Studies in Construction Materials, Efficiency and Performance’. Keynote carbon electricity. and ash dams. Some of the waste blocks of fly ash geopolymer mortars speakers will address the three most The final concrete pour of 8991m3 product can be repurposed into were variously heat cured at 100, relevant topics: fib Model Code 2020, set a new UK record for a single, geopolymer concrete, such as precast 200, 400 or 600°C for six hours. sustainable concrete and high- continuous pour. It surpasses by heat-cured elements for structures. These were then immersed in water, performance structures. 37m3, the previous record during “In a previous study, we found that a medium-alkali medium or an construction of the base for Hinkley's fly ash geopolymer concrete can be extreme-alkali medium and stored at first unit in June 2019.