Arup has published a global guide on how to build fire-safe mass timber structures to encourage more use of the low-carbon alternative to concrete and steel. The consultancy said it…

Webuild is setting up France’s first robotic ashlar-block factory to line the inside of Lot 2 of the Turin-Lyon high-speed rail tunnel. The company said the plant’s intensive automation will…

Engineers at Tsinghua University in Beijing and China Railway Science and Industry Group have developed a prototype tunnel boring machine (TBM) that also blasts rock. The unit has passed tunnelling…

Italian contractor Webuild has announced plans to build a factory in Terni, Umbria, to repair its 58 tunnel boring machines (TBM). The machines will be serviced after they finish a…

Ten companies in the construction sector have formed an alliance to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint.   The Community of Sustainable Equipment Players, or the Communauté des Acteurs du Matériel…

Austrian materials producer Wienerberger says its carbon-neutral concrete roof-tile factory in Hungary will “set a new standard across Europe”. The €30m, 7,300-sq-m plant in Hejopapi will be fully automated, with…

In Australia, a voluntary alliance of tier 1 contractors, government agencies, specialist subcontractors, engineering firms, cost consultants, architects, and material manufacturers – representing the whole construction supply chain – are…

A new company that makes lower-carbon cement from the carbon dioxide captured from the flue of a conventional cement plant has opened its first facility in Redding, California. The new…

Toronto-listed contractor Aecon has joined Montreal’s Concordia University to research new low-carbon construction materials through a three-year memorandum of understanding (MOU). They’ll research low-carbon concrete while exploring opportunities for pilot…

Researchers from Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology are working on a method of using textile-reinforced concrete for the creation of vaulted structures. The team’s work builds on existing work in…

Researchers from the University of Michigan have found a way to better use the principles of origami to design structures that are relatively easy to transport, deploy and reconfigure. The…

The Croatian arm of Mexican materials company Cemex has announced plans to fit solar panels to some of its plants. Cemex will cover the roofs of the Sv Juraj cement…

Swedish concrete-element maker Heidelberg Materials Precast Contiga and Finnish company Metsä Wood have developed a wall panel made from layers of concrete, insulation, and load-bearing laminated veneer lumber. They say…

Dublin-headquartered low-carbon cement maker Ecocem has obtained a European Technical Assessment (ETA) for its cement, which the company says achieves a 70% reduction in CO2 compared with the average European…

The world’s best built-environment pictures have been unveiled in the Chartered Institute of Building’s annual Art of Building photography contest. “Bricks” by Alain Schroeder of Belgium, depicting men working in…

Contrary to common belief, it’s a big oversimplification to say “material X is more sustainable than material Y”, our research suggests. It was conducted using a state-of-the-art, AI-powered conceptual design…

A 96-unit apartment complex built with Lego-style, snap-together blocks has opened its doors to residents in Palm Springs, Florida. It was put up by a small crew of unskilled workers…

India has paved a kilometre of highway with a bitumen mix that uses processed steel slag as the aggregate instead of gravel. The Ministry of Science and Technology said steel…