drymix.info News 136/2013

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drymix.info Newsletter 136 /2013; ISSN Number 1613-0111; 21. May 2013

1. The Second European Mortar Summit, 6. and 7. June 2013, Barcelona, Spain
2. Drymix.info Live on Thursday, 13. June 2013
3. Turkish TAV Construction Wins Tender to Build New Airline Terminal in Riyadh
4. Ursa Invests in Insulation Materials Plant in Germany
5. First Phase of Msheireb Downtown Doha to be Accomplished this Year
6. Ardex Acquires Majorities in Cemix/New Zealand and Quiceal/Singapore
7. Report from The India Drymix Mortar Strategy Meeting in Bangalore

1. The Second European Mortar Summit, 6. and 7. June 2013, Barcelona, Spain

The European Mortar Summit 2013 takes place in Barcelona on 6. and 7. of June, organized by the European Mortar Organization supported by drymix.info. It can be already said, that this conference is one of the most important industry events in 2013. A large amount of delegates from Europe and all over the world registered, this year with a record attendance by drymix mortar manufacturers. The program includes invited lectures from renowned industry experts and also features a panel discussion. 

The Summit starts with a festive Gala Dinner at Restaurant Principal on 6. June (very close to the Hotel, C/ Provenza 286-288), where also accompanying partners are invited (the next day, there is a wonderful touristic programme for them organized by Anfapa). The actual lecturing programme starts on Friday, 7. June at 09:00. The summit's main sponsor is Ciments Molins, other supporters are Agrana, Kerneos, Momentive, Neuvendis, Nubiola, Organik Kimya, Parex, Poraver, Saint Gobain Weber and Wacker. Sponsoring is still encouraged and welcome, please enquire with drymix.info. Admission is 600 Euro, reduced to 500 Euro for drymix.info members, please register online under www.drymix.info/shop (Visa and Mastercard accepted). Special conditions apply for mortar manufacturers that are member of one of the associations affiliated with EMO.

2. drymix.info Live on Thursday, 13. June 2013

The word of our new feature drymix.info Live is spreading. The live-blog in May  showed a stronger attendance than April. The participants enjoyed Mr. Leopolder's survey on the use of external patents, chatted a bit and took some time to forage through the extensive lectures-on-demand collection. The next drymix.info Live will take place on Thursday, 13. June 2013, from 14.30 - 15.30h CET. Mr. Leopolder will review the European Mortar Summit 2013 in Barcelona (see item 1 above) for those that could not come.

You all are warmly invited to join us, it is fun and it is just establishing itself as a casual monthly industry gathering which you can attend easily and for free. Just use your drymix-convention login data or register new via www.drymix-convention.net (you can also upload a photo of yourself, this makes the chatting much more lively). We are looking forward to meet you on the internet soon, see you in June.

3. Turkish TAV Construction Wins Tender to Build New Airline Terminal in Riaydh

TAV Construction, Istanbul, Turkey (Tepe Akfen Holding) has won the tender to build the new terminal at King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The volume of the tender is 1.500 mio SAR (310 mio Euro), completion of the project is intended in 18 months from now. TAV is a contractor specialised on the building of airport facilities with activities in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Oman and of course in its home market, Turkey.

4. Ursa Invests in Insulation Materials Plant in Germany

Ursa GmbH, located in Witten, Germany invested more than two million Euros in the modernization of their production site for mineral wool wall panels in Delitzsch, Germany. The investment aims at increasing production capacity for insulation material as well as enlarging the product portfolio of Ursa. Ursa has been producing insulation materials based on mineral wool in Delitzsch since 1994. The production site had already been expanded in 1996 and in 2006.

Ursa Germany is a subsidiary of  the Spanish construction material group Uralita, Madrid. Ursa has over 1.800 employees at 14 production sites and sales offices in Germany, South-, Western and Eastern Europe and Russia.

5. First Phase of Msheireb Downtown Doha to be Accomplished this Year

The Qatar Foundation, Doha, had postulated the sustainable re-development of a large plot of downtown property in Doha, Qatar in 2011. Its subsidiary, Mshreib Properties is planing over 100 buildings for its Downtown Doha project, which is estimated to eventually cost 4.300 million Euro and covers 31 hectares (310.000 sq. m.). The space of commercial and residential real estate available for sale and lease will be close to 760.000 sq.m.

Phase One of Msheireb is currently underway. Infrastructure works are expected to be completed next month, main building works by September this year and the heritage quarter by year end. The site includes historic homes up to 100 years old that will be preserved and incorporated into the complex. Msheireb Properties claim that, when completed, the entire complex will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 110,000 tons per year compared to conventionally built developments of a similar size. The entire project is planned to be completed in 2016.

6. Ardex Acquires Majorities in Cemix/New Zealand and Quiceal/Singapore

In April 2013, the Ardex Group, based in Witten, Germany, announced that they acquired a majority stake in Cemix Limited located in Onehunga near Auckland, New Zealand. Ardex New Zealand, based in Christchurch, has already been active in New Zealand for many years, mainly producing sealants. Cemix has been operating in New Zealand for almost 3 decades and is a manufacturer and supplier of dry mortar products as well as concrete repair, floor preparation and tile adhesive products. Ardex will significantly broaden its manufacturing base, since Cemix brings in a high-capacity automated drymix mortar production plant.

CEO Mark Eslamlooy also announced, that Ardex has become majority stakeholder of Quicseal Construction Chemicals Pte Ltd, Singapore and Quic-Seal Construction Chemicals Sdn. Bhd., Taman Johor Jaya, Malaysia. The two companies had cooperated already during the last few years. Both Quicseal and Cemix will keep their respective brands and personnel and continue to operate independently as separate entities in the market place, parallel to the Ardex activities.

7. Report from The India Drymix Mortar Strategy Meeting in Bangalore

The India Drymix Mortar Strategy Meeting took place at Palm Meadows Hotel in Bangalore, Karnataka, India on 7. May 2013. drymix.info had invited key experts of the drymix mortar industry to a brainstorming about further actions to promote the use of drymix mortars in India. The meeting was sponsored by Wacker Chemie, thanks a lot. After the introduction phase and a short presentation of Moderator Ferdinand Leopolder about the India Round Table on Drymix Mortars in 2012, the delegates discussed the current situation in India. The most prominent problem area is the sourcing of aggregates for the use in mortars. Several restrictions came into effect recently which dramatically increased the prices for suitable materials, and actually led to an increased use of premixed mortars and bagged sand in large cities such as Mumbay. Qualities however remain inferior. Which leads us to the second area of focus during the discussion. At present, there is no suitable laboratory available in India to conduct third-party, neutral testing of mortars according to given standards. Before addressing the standarisation issue, the delegates felt that the lab situation has to be improved. The third restriction for the spreading of drymix mortar testing throughout India was identified by the delegates as a taxation-disadvantage, because drymix mortar is seen as industrial product (VAT applies) and sand and cement as raw materials (no VAT). So, the current taxation by the Indian Government actually discourages the contractors to use modern, high-performance drymix mortars.

All delegates agreed that the absence of awareness about the potentials coming with drymix mortars is the main hindrance for an expansion of the markets, they feel this is an issue that needs to be promoted on all levels starting immediately. In order to address these and other issues, the formation of the India Alliance for Drymix Mortars was discussed, Ferdinand Leopolder was asked to formalize the Resolution for High Quality Drymix Mortars for The Indian Subcontinent and propose it to a General Assembly, which will be held in Mumbai this coming fall.


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