2019 - 2021: Regional project for the development of precast concrete products incorporating recycled concrete aggregates for building façades

The construction sector is undergoing major changes and is faced with unprecedented challenges of major importance for the coming decades: population growth and the need for housing and infrastructure, climate change, sustainable use of natural resources, societal expectations, the economy of the territories...

In the Regional Plan for Waste Prevention and Management in Normandy, the region aims to recover 70% of waste from the construction and public works sector by 2020. 

Going beyond current standards; this is the ambition of the prEConcrete project.

The prEConcrete project, supported by the Normandy Region and ADEME, aims to develop prefabricated concrete products with a rate of incorporation of recycled concrete aggregates beyond the recommendations made in the national RECYBETON project. Indeed, the latter, one of the main actors of which was the CERIB, in particular on the themes of "sustainability" and "evolution of the normative texts" has allowed to find sustainable ways of valorisation for the recycled aggregates in concretes on the principle of "cradle to cradle". The work shows in particular that it is possible to go beyond the substitution rates currently defined by the NF EN 206/CN and NF EN 13369 standards.

Objectives of the preEConcrete project

This project will demonstrate the possibility to:

• Improve the rate of recovery of materials from construction and public works in the local collection and sorting channels;
• Contribute to structuring the regional recycling sector;
• Improve the traceability of recycled materials;
• Produce its concrete parts using recycled aggregates from demolition concrete;
• Further optimize the environmental impact of precast concrete products;
• Fnable construction players to meet during a technical day for the construction of demonstration buildings.

ESITC Caen at the heart of the partnership

The C.M.E.G., coordinator of the prEConcrete project, is a general construction company in Normandy known for being innovative. In the field of concrete recycling, it has been using recycled concrete aggregates in its structural concretes since 2015.  The C.M.E.G. wishes to go further in this process of recycling local waste. The C.M.E.G. has a network of partners in the field of concrete recycling which is interesting for the establishment of relationships between the actors and for the creation of links that will make recycled concrete ecological and economical compared to natural aggregate concrete.

ESITC Caen, a school that trains high-level engineers in the construction sector, will participate in the R&D work and make its technical and human resources available.

The CERIB, Centre Technique Industriel, will contribute to the development of high-stake societal approaches to the fight against climate change and the preservation of the environment and the development of resources. Technology transfer, particularly to SMEs and local stakeholders is one of its strategic axes.

Partners