Building materials group Lafarge places innovation at the heart of its priorities to contribute to more sustainable construction and to better serve architectural creativity, Lafarge Country CEO Thierry Legrand tells Engineering News.

He states that the Group’s brand baseline of building better cities embodies its ambition to provide innovative solutions for building more compact cities with more houses that are not only beautiful but also durable and well connected through proper infrastructure.

“Lafarge South Africa is in a unique position to do this by having a strong presence in all its construction-related business lines of cement, aggregates, readymix and gypsum plasterboard. Innovation in products and services differentiates our company in the marketplace.

“There are various elements through which Lafarge contributes to [the establishment of] more sustainable construction in South Africa. At the production stage, we have developed modern, innovative cement that reduces the amount of carbon dioxide released during construction,” Legrand notes.

He adds that, during the construction phase, the company also has solutions for improved insulation and stormwater collection, explaining that most of the environmental impact occurs during the life of the building.

He comments that Lafarge has developed a product called Hydromedia, which provides rapid stormwater removal from streets, parking surfaces, driveways and walkways. While Hydromedia outperforms traditional permeable pavements, it also reduces the cost and long-term maintenance for local authorities and developers of stormwater management infrastructure, as it collects the water and disperses it into the soil.

“The product has been used in a playpark in Bela-Bela and in the play area of an orphanage in Kliptown, Soweto,” he says.

Legrand states that it is a solid example of what can be done through the innovative application of concrete and adds that the company is developing recycling in South Africa as another way of contributing to sustainability in construction.

“The company has been present in Africa for many years, as Africa is a significant part of the group’s activity. We commissioned a new pro-duction line in South Africa in 2010 and, last year, we commissioned a production line in Nigeria. We plan to take advantage of the opportunities we see in infrastructure, housing, energy and water on the continent,” concludes Legrand.