Holcim opens its first Asian Center of Excellence in Singapore

The new CoE will cost around half a million dollars to build.

In a release, Holcim Singapore, a subsidiary of Holcim Ltd of Switzerland, will be opening its first Center of Excellence in Asia.

Built with the support of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), the CoE will be unveiled to the public during a grand opening at ICON@IBP to be graced by Mr Lam Siew Wah, Deputy CEO of Building and Construction Authority and witnessed by distinguished guests including, His Excellency Jörg Al. Reding, Switzerland’s Ambassador to Singapore and Mr Goh Chee Kiong, Director of Clean Technology and Building and Infrastructure Solutions of Singapore Economic Development Board.

Equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities, the CoE will serve as an innovative solution “generator” through extensive Research and Development (R&D). The focus of research will continue to stem from the 3Rs of the environment – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. In line with its mission of developing sustainable construction solutions, Holcim is committed to reduce the total amount of concrete needed in construction, reuse and recycle concrete demolition waste and excavation materials to partially replace virgin aggregates in concrete making. In addition to that, solutions developments will be targeted towards enhancing construction productivity, new materials technology and customized value-added solutions.

Costing around half a million dollars to build, the opening of the CoE with its comprehensive laboratory facilities will greatly enhance the research and development efforts in the areas of developing diverse green and value-added solutions such as Imprintcrete and Structural Lightcrete.

“The importance of sustainable construction in Singapore due to the lack of natural resources affirms our strategy. The Centre of Excellence will play a vital role in boosting the resource efficiency of the construction materials industry and enable us to push for more innovative and technology breakthroughs to better meet the demands of the market” said Dr. Sujit Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer of Holcim (Singapore).