More than 30 member companies of the Georgia Concrete & Products Association are donating the necessary ingredients for building the region's most advanced high-performance building. Starting with the building system of insulated concrete form construction donated by PolySteel Southeast Distributors, this concrete building will demonstrate multiple benefits. It will minimize the "footprint" on the land, maximize the interior usable space, conserve construction materials, speed the construction process, create a pleasant and productive work environment and most importantly, will use a fraction of the energy that a similar conventional building would consume for heating, cooling and lighting.

Organizing the donation of concrete requires the cooperation and support of many different companies - 750 tons of crushed stone, 500 tons of sand, over 200 tons of cement, flyash (used as a partial substitute for cement), and slag cement (a by- product of the steel manufacturing process), expertise and a plant to design mixes and batch the ingredients into concrete, and 10 different companies joining together to deliver the material when needed to the jobsite to create foundations, slabs and decks, walls curbs, sidewalks and hardscape areas. The concrete mix will incorporate up to 40% recovered material (flyash and slag) in order to optimize LEED credit.

Pervious concrete which allows rain to percolate into the soil will be used for sidewalks and similar hardscape around the exterior. Using concrete construction also allows the structure to incorporate a green roof onto the building. Green roofs reduce stormwater runoff, and provide additional insulation, reduce the heat island effect, and create more usable and interesting space for building users.

The board of the GC&PA voted last December to support the Southface project and participation from member companies has been outstanding. Gordon Kenna, Director of the association said, "Our members appreciate the importance of sustainability and high performance buildings and they wanted to be a part of this demonstration project. For the best choice of cost effective construction, energy efficient operation, and sustainable design, you can count on concrete."

The Georgia Concrete & Products Association is coordinating the donations of material, expertise and service from member companies. Participants in the Southface Eco Office project are listed on the reverse side:

Cement, slag cement and flyash - Up to 40% of the cementious portion of the concrete mix in the Southface building is a recovered material flyash is the by product of burning coal for electricity, slag cement is produced from the ground slag by-product of steel manufacturing. Donors of these materials include:
CEMEX, Holcim (US), Inc. , Lehigh Cement Company, National Cement Company, Inc., Lafarge North America, Boral Material Technologies, Inc., Headwaters Resources.

Aggregates - Most of the weight of concrete is made up of the sand and crushed stone and lightweight aggregate. Sand and crushed graded stone is used in the foundations slab on grade, and the walls. Lightweight aggregate (an expanded clay shale product) is used for the deck slab and roof. Donors of these materials include:
Florida Rock Industries, Hanson Aggregates, Lafarge Aggregates, Martin Marietta Aggregates, Vulcan Materials Company, and Carolina Stalite Company (lightweight aggregate).

Concrete mix design, batching and manufacturing - Concrete is "designed" to have specific properties for the particular requirements of the job - strength, setting time, flowability, etc. Concrete is manufactured at a batch plant where materials are measured and blended to specification, water is added to the mixture to initiate the reaction of the cement which is the active ingredient in concrete. Admixture chemicals, donated by Grace Construction Products help make the concrete conform to a quality specification. Materials for the Southface Eco Office will be batched at one location, the Lafarge Concrete plant at Glenwood.

Delivery of concrete to the site - This critical element of the task requires a specialty vehicle and trained operator. Concrete is delivered to the construction site in a concrete truck, a single-purpose vehicle with a constantly rotating drum that can carry about 8 -9 cu yd of concrete in a single trip. Freshly mixed concrete is among the most perishable items in commerce. Member companies of the Georgia Concrete and Products Association donating service for the delivery of concrete to the site are from all across north Georgia, they include:
Thomas Concrete Industries, Ernst Enterprises of Georgia, Inc., Ready Mix USA, RMC Allied, Tucker Concrete Co. (TUCCO), Walker Concrete Company, Morgan Concrete Company, Wayne Davis Concrete, Fowler-Flemister Concrete, Inc, Fairburn Ready Mix.