Construction Aggregates
Aggregates used for construction need to be free from; sulphates, salts and any organic matter.Therefore aggregates are preferably always washed before use.
The demand for aggregates is generally down, in areas outside of the Home Counties and with this prices are falling.
Whilst this cost adjustment seems favourable to construction contractors there is an inherent risk in using stone for temporary works.
Removing aggregate is labour intensive and costly and with falling resale values, dispensing with it after it has been in the ground is becoming increasingly expensive.
With landfill tax increasing to £64 per tonne from April 2012 and the withdrawal of aggregate recycling exemption certificates in January 2012, reducing recycling capacity, next year looks a very risky time for contractors with aggregate to remove.
Latest figures show that in the UK 100,000,000 tonnes of aggregate is being used every year. With construction stagnating and access to locally sourced aggregates becoming more difficult, this figure will be falling.
Many large accessible beds of aggregate cannot now be quarried as roads and other infrastructure now cover them.
Furthermore those beds existing in undeveloped areas under farmland and designated natural beauty are quite rightly being protected from extraction.
With a shortfall of around 150,000 houses and the Thames Gateway under construction the South East is expected to require around 10,000,000 tonnes of aggregate.
With no obvious local source crushed rock is being shipped down from Scotland and sea dredged aggregates brought ashore and washed to remove very particle of salt.
Neither of these options provide a cost effective or long term solution to the problem and contractors should be looking to new technologies and products to replace the use of aggregates temporary works in construction.Cement and Lime stabilisation can replace imported stone for site stabilisation where the existing soils are cohesive, granular and free from organic material.
The unique new stabilisation additive RoadCem however goes one better and used with cement enables all site soils and materials to be stabilised to replace imported aggregate.
There is no longer any excuse for “cut and fill” moreover contractors planning ahead can utilise pre site stabilisation for permanent work applications. Engineering the RoadCem stabilised soil to fit future ground foundation and base specifications.
