Ontario Construction News staff writer
A ribbon-cutting ceremony at Aecon’s Training Centre in Holland Landing marked completion of the first structure built with cement-free concrete masonry units from carbon removal developer CarbiCrete and low-carbon concrete from Lafarge Canada.
The low carbon building will be used by Aecon, a Canadian company that produces construction materials including asphalt, as a tool storage facility for trainees working at the site in northern York Region.
“The use of low-carbon concrete represents the single greatest opportunity to reduce embodied carbon in the built environment,” said Jacob Homiller, CEO of Montreal-based CarbiCrete. “We’re pleased to be collaborating with the innovative teams at Aecon and Lafarge to decarbonize the construction sector.”
CarbiCrete says its technology enables cement-free concrete by replacing cement with a steel-making by-product and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by mineralizing CO2 into the concrete for permanent storage.
According to CarbiCrete’s Environmental Product Declaration, its cement-free units boast a carbon footprint 20 times lower than the industry average.
Aecon added in a statement that the Holland Landing project provides a use case for low-carbon construction solutions like CarbiCrete’s cement-free products and Lafarge Canada’s ECOPact concrete.
In early 2025, the line of CarbiCrete products will become commercially available in Ontario through masonry producer Canal Block, while increased production of CarbiCrete products is expected now that installation of new equipment at a plant in Drummondville, Quebec has been completed.
Another carbon reduction initiative in the construction sector is being advanced by CertainTeed Canada, which recently unveiled a new line of low-carbon gypsum wallboard called CarbonLow. Sold in Canada starting in 2025, the form of drywall uses up to 60 per cent less embodied carbon than traditional alternatives, the company says.
The lower embodied carbon wallboard will help architects achieve building decarbonization in their designs while requiring no change to standard installation procedures for contractors, CertainTeed said during a presentation at this year’s Architecture Symposium.
Starting this year, CarbonLow products will be manufactured at CertainTeed’s facility in Montreal, which will be North America’s first zero-carbon gypsum wallboard factory. CertainTeed, a division of French construction group Saint Gobain, says it is also updating its equipment to fully transition the plant from fossil fuels to hydroelectric power.
“CarbonLow represents not only a new, high-quality product line but a fulfillment of our promise to provide solutions for the decarbonization of the built environment,” Julie Bonamy, CEO of Saint-Gobain Canada, said in a separate statement.