Concrete has traditionally suffered a bad reputation as fundamental building due to the perception material on their dependence on Virgin raw materials and energy consumption and emissions associated with its production process. Based on the latest developments, Technical Director of CEMEX United Kingdom, Steve Crompton, argues that the concrete should, however, be seen as a sustainable, strong and long-lasting building material versatile and economically important which has a vital role to play in the development of the United Kingdom of more sustainable communities.

Concrete is the material of construction used in the world. It is us around, in the offices of schools, roads to the railways and prey to households. Its economic clout of powerful sees over 40,000 people directly employed in the manufacture of United Kingdom, and is compatible with a construction industry which employs seven percent of our population. However, when it comes to considering its sustainable credentials, to ensure that we can balance our current pace of development with the requirements of future generations, is important to take into account specific premezclado from various angles: environmental and aspects of the life cycle, its economic impact and its contribution to our society in general.

Taking into account the environmental dimension in the first place. There is clear evidence that improvements in environmental performance are underway to minimize the impact of the production of concrete. These changes include actively reduce the emissions associated with the process of manufacture of concrete, and less dependence on Virgin raw materials, increasing the use of by-products in concrete. Add to a better management of waste, the use of alternative fuels and more recycled aggregates as well as the thermal mass of concrete, which in the context of climate change, can help keep fresh future housing in summer to light houses, while also saving of heating fuel in winter, it is clear that the concrete has a key role to play in the implementation of the future energy-efficient buildings.

While the total number of construction represents the impact of industry 10 percent of the total emissions of CO2 from the United Kingdom, concrete is responsible for only 2.6 per cent of this. Compared with 33 percent generated by transport, it's a relatively small amount, especially taking into account its importance as basic material of construction. Concrete also get favourable compared with structural steel, where the amount of CO2 generated per tonne is approximately 10 times greater than that of the reinforced concrete.

The use of waste products from other industries, such as land of fly ash or blast furnace slag, either as an addition or mixer incorporated into the cement mix factory significantly reduces global greenhouse emissions of gases, and means that this essential building material is, and will continue to continue making a significant contribution to the programme of the Government of United Kingdom climate change to lower CO2 emissions in a 60 percent by 2050.

In addition to the products of I actively waste consumption of other industries and processes, the industry is working to improve the production plants and international standards such as ISO 14001, to prevent pollution and ensure continuous improvement through the implementation of environmental management (EMS) systems. Using water recycled in production plants also is growing and is becoming more common.

It is not only the environmental aspects of concrete to be evaluated as sustainable and positive, however, by what we are going to consider their life cycle in general.

Like other construction materials, concrete has a useful life. Compared with other commonly used building materials is by far the most durable, with a typical lifespan of at least 60 years. In essence, it consists of three phases of life. Its creation, its use in buildings and structures, and its re-use through recycling once the building reaches the end of his life.

It is much more likely that a modern concrete building is deprecated because they do not perceive the use of more, the concrete structure of having failed due to the age structure. With this in mind, and with the profitability and sustainability of now to the fore, the reuse of concrete buildings is becoming increasingly common. The material offers flexibility and concrete structures apparently redundant to work, redesigned and rebuilt with new upgrade