This year, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is testing a new environmentally-friendly cement for the Ateliers Gaîté, created by the French company Hoffmann Green. This cement’s production will cut the carbon emissions by 7.
What is Hoffmann Green’s creation? A cement that drastically reduces carbon emissions
Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies has developed a technology to produce a cement made of industrial waste from France and without clinker – the main source of carbon emissions when producing cement. Its manufacturing is made in a factory without an oven or chimney.
With this process, the cement produced can emit between 200 to 250 kg of CO2 per ton, versus 900 kg for the traditional cement. This patented cement is made of clay, aggregates (of steel and gypsum that can be found in waste materials in the Paris region).
We use flashed metakaolin, a type of clay flashed at 750°C for 5 seconds. The clay powder is then activated. We’ve also worked with clay powder, gypsum and blast furnace slag. We create an alkaline reaction, to obtain a powder mixed with aggregates to produce concrete.Julien Blanchard
The project started back in 2014, while Julien Blanchard, an entrepreneur specialized in construction materials, and David Hoffmann, a chemical engineer who had worked in waste treatment, started working together and applied for 3 patents for the manufacturing process of their eco-friendly cement.
After creating the company Hoffmann Green et building their first pilot factory in Bournezeau (Vendée) in 2017, the company raised €15M in 2018 to build a second factory and increase the production capacity and offer more competitive prices. Since the end of 2018, the first factory – that has a 50,000 ton capacity – is operational.
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield launched a first test at the Ateliers Gaîté
Convinced by the potential of this solution, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and Eiffage Construction – in charge of the works of the Ateliers Gaîté (Montparnasse neighbourhood in Paris) – have decided to try this cleaner innovative cement for the staircases located in the office part of the project: a total of 1,000 tons will be used, one of the first orders coming out of their factory! And thanks to this low carbon cement, the CO2 emissions of the project should be cut by 7.
For Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, this solution is really promising and could be an important improvement if it were used for the structure of projects in the long term. Indeed, this low-carbon cement would contribute to creating sustainable destinations and respecting the target of halving the Group’s carbon footprint by 2030 set in the Better Places 2030 strategy.
We are convinced the places that will succeed tomorrow are “better places”: more connected, more integrated and more sustainable ones. Hoffmann Green is a major disruption that will enable us to reduce our carbon footprint in a part of the Ateliers Gaîté project, and that could lead to a significative reduction in carbon emissions at a whole project level. Hoffmann Green is part of many initiatives that share this global vision of improving the environmental impact.Julie Villet