Cement & Concrete

New industry body – Cement & Concrete SA – open for business

The Concrete Institute (TCI), Concrete Society of Southern Africa (CSSA) and the

Association of Cementitious Material Producers (ACMP) have consolidated to form a single, non-profit entity called Cement & Concrete SA (CCSA). Bryan Perrie, CEO of CCSA, says the new platform has been mandated to promote and support the industry, to drive growth and deliver shared value through a unified platform for cement and concrete.

Anew and inclusive membership model will make the portfolio of services offered by CCSA available to individuals or corporates, either for free or at members’ discounted rates. These services include courses presented by the School of Concrete Technology (SCT), access to the Information Centre, attendance at technical events and webinars, publications, and hyperlinked listings on various electronic sources.

Hanlie Turner, business development manager at CCSA, says that this membership model has been thought out very carefully. “We want to create value for our members through tailored categories of benefits that are suited to the needs of different member profiles. We have categories for individual members, corporate members, retired members, academic members and emerging contractors. The different benefit categories for corporate members (bronze, silver, gold and platinum) offer various levels of affordability, as well as promotional benefits and marketing exposure. This is because the size and geographical operation of companies vary widely. We wanted to make membership as inclusive as possible.”

Those in the Partner Members category have interests in the South African built environment economy and are strongly aligned to CCSA and its memorandum of incorporation. They often have existing relations and buy-in to the longer-term strategy and operation of CCSA. Partner

Bryan Perrie, CEO, and Hanlie Turner, business development manager, of CCSA

Members are well-established, recognised leaders in the cement and concrete industry. So far, there are four Partner Members: AfriSam, PPC, Lafarge and Sephaku Cement.

School

The SCT will continue running courses under CCSA. With its current focus on education and the theoretical part of concrete, CCSA is investigating the possibility of broadening the scope of courses by partnering with a company to provide practical concrete skills training. The SCT will continue to offer the Advanced Concrete Technology (ACT) Diploma through the Institute of Concrete Technology, based in London, UK.

Events

Fondly referred to as the ‘Oscars of the concrete industry’, the Fulton Awards will be held in 2022. Turner states that while the format and location of the event will change, it will remain a prestigious event with the same level of distinction. “The Fulton Awards are one of the few awards where the judges physically travel to the construction site to meet the entire project team and the adjudication is based on the actual project, not the resourcefulness of the team submitting the entry.”

The CONCRETEFiX Series that started last year as technical webinars – in response to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions – will continue this year, as these events are regarded as very informative.

Committees

CCSA will have a dedicated focus on committees to ensure that all relevant cement, concrete and related areas are addressed. The committee structures will empower members to guide and shape many of the services, while branch committees of the erstwhile Concrete Society of SA will be retained to ensure that CCSA will have concrete ambassadors in various regions.

“We want to constantly engage with people within the concrete and cement industry and these committees will continue to keep CCSA abreast of trends, concerns and developments within the industry,” adds Turner.

CCSA will also have a standards committee to provide input on various standards before they even reach the SABS. As the committees start functioning, potential new committees may be identified to address specific needs in the industry.

CCSA goals and priorities

These include to: • be an advocate for cement and concrete • support research as a means of growing expertise • promote industry standards • encourage compliance among members and industry role players • grow industry skills and build capacity by developing and offering courses, seminars, and training materials • provide information, research, advisory and on-site technical consulting services – all services available to members. Perrie adds that the consolidation will also strengthen the ability of CSSA to lobby government: “With the formation of CCSA, there will be far better coordination when talking to government, rather than different associations talking at different government levels to different officials.”

Presently, there are three topics that CCSA believes are pertinent to the industry and will actively work towards solving: 1) Clarification on the Infrastructure

Fund – how much has been allocated and where? 2) Cement imports: a. The safeguard application through the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa. b. A review of the Pakistani cement tariffs that have lapsed in December. Currently, they have received a sunset review, meaning they will stay in place for the next 18 months. c. There are discussions with National Treasury about designation, where government-funded projects can only use locally produced cement. 3) Presently, many conflicting and ambiguous messages are shared readily on various platforms and, with the proliferation of substandard products and services, the need for authoritative engagement with all stakeholders is critical. “We are excited about the future of the cement and concrete industry in South Africa. The staff of CCSA are ready to discuss membership options and benefits. We are poised to add value and unlock opportunities for all members, and the industry at large,” Perrie concludes.

You can contact CCSA via email info@cemcon-sa.org.za or visit the website www.cemcon-sa.org.za/e