SCC-Consortium - Summary

The Danish construction industry, including the concrete industry, is facing big challenges. Productivity, working environment, quality, and aesthetics are the key words in approaching the future’s still heavier demands in the international competition. Thus, Self-Compacting Concrete (abbr. SCC) has been appointed as the future type of concrete.

Concrete is the world’s most important construction material. In Denmark approx. 8 mill tonnes of concrete – ready-mixed and pre-fab – is manufactured per year corresponding to 1.5 tonnes per inhabitant. SCC is the designation of a new type of concrete that does not have to be consolidated in order to fill up a form and to encase reinforcement. Using SCC can therefore improve the productivity, the working environment, and the quality significantly and at the same time it opens up the possibilities of constructions with architectural more sophisticated design.

In spite of the fact that the use of SCC is increasing in Denmark there are still many unsolved problems when using SCC and in several countries the use of SCC has stagnated. It is therefore necessary to give the concrete industry the needed/necessary technology lift ensuring that SCC can live up to the expectations to the future type of concrete.

This is the reason why 17 companies and centres of research have joined forces and have founded the Innovation Consortium for Self-Compacting Concrete – a technology jump for productivity and working environment in the construction industry colloquially called SCC Consortium (Innovationskonsortiet for Selvkompakterende beton – et teknologispring for produktivitet og arbejdsmiljø i byggebranchen).