A different prefabrication and modular construction sector came out of the pandemic. Ambitious startups such as Skender Manufacturing and Katerra folded in the last few years, while one major health care designer lamented an industrywide pullback that saw many of the suppliers they work with cut back on custom, by-project fabrication to standardize on products like headwalls and bathroom pods.
Demands from clients and labor shortages are forcing some contractors into other methods of creating building assemblies, driving new investments in prefabrication and modular construction techniques.
Structural materials have not changed all that much since reinforced concrete was introduced to construction in the late 19th century, but a fiber-reinforced, mineral composite system from a Florida company offers a new alternative.
Vulcan Materials Co. filed a request for arbitration with the World Bank back in 2018 over the disputed site, but the materials giant and the Mexican government still dispute valuation for the quarry and port facilities on the Gulf of Mexico.
Grant to Missouri S&T University will boost AI program to develop best concrete 3D printing options using alternative and sustainable materials so structures can be built away from ready-mix plants.
Boosters for a more sustainably produced cement, which slashes greenhouse gas emissions up to 40% compared to ordinary portland cement production, say the material, called limestone calcined clay cement, is the next best embodied carbon reducer for concrete since portland limestone cement.