Since August 2012, Unical has been supplying the concrete for the Isozaki Tower, one of the high-rise buildings in the CityLife project aimed at redeveloping the former exhibition district in Milan. Standing at 202 meters high, the 50-storey tower designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki will be the tallest building in Italy and will accommodate up to 3,800 people. The outwardly curving glass facade and slender silhouette conceals the impressive concrete structure consisting of two mirrored “cores” at the sides, the floors and the imposing columns in the central part of the building. Supplied by the batching plants in Novate Milanese, Nosedo and Bareggio, our subsidiary Unical delivered approximately 90,000 m3 of concrete for both the tower and the platform. The final 430 m3 of special concrete was delivered in two pourings for the beam crowning the skyscraper in July 2014. Unical was also awarded the contract to supply 40,000 m3 of concrete for the associated underground park.
Ultimately housing the offices of the Allianz Italia group, the building will be ready in spring just in time for the opening of Expo 2015.

On November 5th, the Italian Stock Exchange (Palazzo Mezzanotte) in Milan hosted the event “CDP Southern Europe”, associated with the CDP Italy Climate Change Report 2014, which included the awards ceremony to the Italian leader companies in Climate Disclosure and Performance.

CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), is a non-profit organization which gathers data on climate change management for 722 institutional investors. This data is then used by financial operators to analyze investments, loans and insurance.

For the third consecutive year, Buzzi Unicem was among the best companies for its involvement and results achieved in limiting the climate changes, reaching the best score regarding emissions disclosure and gaining first place in the Materials sector.

CDP Award

The Buzzi Unicem USA cement plant in Maryneal, Texas, has received an important recognition from the Portland Cement Association (PCA) and the Cement Americas trade Journal as part of the Cement Industry Energy & Environmental Awards program, which recognizes the development of sustainable manufacturing practices. The Maryneal plant was among the finalists in the innovation category for developing technical and technological innovations that improved its environmental and energy savings performance. In 2013, Maryneal was the first plant in the U.S. to install a Horomill® grinding plant to replace the old system, which had become inefficient and obsolete. This upgrade led to significant energy savings, as well as reductions in greenhouse gases, water consumption and noise levels. The Energy & Environmental Awards are recognized to those cement plants that continuously improve their environmental performance. These plants demonstrate a sense of responsibility that goes above and beyond simply applying governmental regulations and local laws, and extends to the quality of life and the working environment of their communities. The PCA awards five categories: social responsibility, environmental performance, land stewardship, innovation and energy efficiency, with a special award given to a facility that demonstrates excellence in multiple categories.

Last month, Dyckerhoff Beton delivered over 2,000 m3 of concrete to Bickhardt Bau of Kirchheim for the restoration of a bridge on the roundabout located on state road B263 in Wiesbaden.
Measuring 130 meters long, the bridge consists of 4 sections that form a single, continuous span over the roundabout.
Dyckerhoff Beton supplied the site with concrete from its Wiesbaden and Flörsheim plants, using a fleet of 14 truck-mixers that were all on the go at the same time. The pour started at 6 p.m. on Friday, 4 July and continued non-stop through the night until the last load was poured at 6 p.m. the following day, almost 24 hours later.
The class C 45/55 concrete was pumped at height by means of two pumps stationed on the roundabout, which was closed to traffic. The consistency of the concrete was constantly and scrupulously monitored both at the plants and onsite. The CEM III/A 42,5N cement used to prepare the concrete was produced by Dyckerhoff’s Amöneburg plant.

Our associate Cementos Moctezuma has rebranded its bags inspired by Mexican designs from pre-Columbian era. The underlying theme is expressed by the Mexican identity and his-toric tradition evoked by the name of the company, Moctezuma, who was the emperor of the Aztec empire during the pre-Columbian times.
The new marketing philosophy launches the company on the market appealing to national pride and to a leading edge firm, generating in customers a feeling of belonging that is a much appreciated value in the industry.

The graphic symbols from the Aztec culture the bags are inspired by are as follows:
• Quetzalcóatl (literally “feathered serpent”, which was considered the supreme deity); it appears during the spring equinox, descending from the sky down the steps of a pyr-amid
• Royal Eagle (symbol of courage, power and bearer of good fortune)
• Chichicuilote (migratory bird representing hope for a good harvest)
• Coyote (wild animal considered the god of war)

According to a recent publication issued by Interbrand, the trade name Cementos Moctezuma is ranked among the first 25 of the country.

Especially during the soccer World Cup we turn Holland into orange. Concrete is no exception as well as the safey helmets.
Our batching plant in Delft delivered during the last few weeks orange coloured concrete for a floor of the City brewery "De koperen kat". The orange colour is part of the brewery logo and a good coincident with the colors of the Dutch team, currently playing in Brasil.
Why Orange?
- Orange, because the name of the founder of the State of the Netherlands is  William of Orange;
- Orange is the surname of the Dutch royal family;
- Orange is the colour of the Dutch soccer team;
- Orange is the colour of the city brewery;

William of Orange has lived, was killed and buried in Delft.

The 2013 sustainability report is online.
The 2013 sustainability report was presented together with the Annual report 2013 at the shareholders’ meeting held on May 9th 2014. The report contains the social, environmental and economic indicators referred to the year 2013. All the indicators are disclosed according to the GRI guidelines.
As per the previous editions the report contains a group disclosure and highlights on Italy and meets the A+ standards of GRI.
The report was drawn up and printed both in Italian and in English.

Sustainability Report 2013

On February 28th, our associate Concretos Moctezuma made its biggest pouring ever. Starting from two batch plants located in the capital, Central and Eulalia Guzman, the delivery reached a total of 5,681 cubic meters of ready-mix concrete in 23 hours only.
The construction site of destination is called Miyana and it's a mega development that includes shopping mall, offices and a residential complex, located in the Polanco district of Mexico City. It consists of 500,000 square meters of construction on a 44,000 square meters terrain. Gigante Grupo Inmobiliario and other private investors are the promoters of this huge project, with an estimated value of five billion pesos.
The first stage, which will take place during a five-year period, includes the erection of two towers, one for residential and the other for office use. The concrete supply for the foundations was completed thanks to the joint effort of Grupo VYG, S.A. de C.V. and Concretos Moctezuma, an alliance that has yielded successful results for more than 20 years.

The path undertaken by Buzzi Unicem over 10 years ago to develop modern, integrated environmental and safety management systems reached another important milestone at the beginning of April, when the Barletta cement plant was awarded the OHSAS 18001 occupational health and safety certification by ICMQ.
This achievement was possible thanks to the commitment and full collaboration of all our local colleagues, who were able to accomplish the goal through efficient planning and careful participation. Besides the Buzzi Unicem employees, the certification also involved the external entities rendering their services at the plant, which shared the company’s choice to improve the already high occupational safety standards of the workplace.

Unical has created a new selling model for ready-mix concrete based on a wide range of products and customized “multiple offerings”.
The first step in this renewal process was to restructure our concrete product line by subdividing it into “standard” products for standard orders, “dedicated” products for individual applications, and “custom” products to meet the specific requirements of individual job sites in a customized manner.  We thus reclassified our concrete products and their characteristics, using more precise but catchier technical terminology. Each performance and property has been defined, classified and depicted by “smarties”; immediately identifiable graphics.

Unical has also created a new multiple offering, which is a commercial offering that is customized for each customer at the job site and formulated in accordance with the technical needs of the site itself.

Concrete is a mixture of components that differ for each batch and the wide variety of products requires a solid, overall technological expertise and a well-streamlined process, all aspects where Unical is at the forefront.

The loop road south of Guadalajara (Jalisco, Mexico) has been planned to eliminate congestion inside the metropolitan area due to traffic other than outbound or inbound, and to give continuity to vehicles travelling long-distances from the center and north-east of the state.
The "Libramiento Sur" project entails the construction of a highway about 110 km long, with a four-lane section in a single unit. In terms of paving supply, 800,000 cubic meters of concrete will be required.

The joint venture CyM, co-partnered 50/50 by Corporación Moctezuma and the Spanish construction company Comsa Emte, was awarded the tender for the supply and laying of the concrete slabs, with dedicated slipform pavers.