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January 15, 2000
For Immediate Release
For more information, contact Jennifer Grover or Bruce McIntosh at PCA (847) 966-6200.
Concrete Homebuilding Surges Past 10% Market Share in 1999
Portland Cement Association partners with public and private entities to support research, train the industry, and lower cost to homebuyers
If you could build a home that saved you 30% on energy bills, wouldn’t you do it? Would you consider building a home with increased resistance to natural disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and fires? How about a home that blocked out as much as two-thirds of outside noise? In 1999, more than 120,000 new homebuyers in the U.S. said yes to those questions and chose concrete.
When it comes to building beautiful—and long-lasting—homes, more builders around the country are relying on concrete than ever before. Currently, more than 10% of new home starts are concrete, and the Portland Cement Association predicts that share will grow by leaps and bounds in coming years. While many of the homes are concrete masonry, another concrete homebuilding system, insulating concrete forms (ICFs), is rapidly gaining market share: last year nearly 20,000 ICF homes were built, compared to 1,000 in 1994. (ICFs are polystyrene forms that are stacked in the shape of a home and filled with concrete to create a super-strong, energy-efficient, and quiet home.)
Early ICF construction in the U.S. focused on high-end custom homes, but recent years have seen the system adopted by larger builders for expansive projects, including a recent 10-home Centex project in the Dallas area. Many larger projects are currently under construction, including: Brittany Park, a 73-home development in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Washington Square, an award-winning 81-unit townhouse project in La Plata, Maryland; Montreux Golf & Country Club, a 46-home project in Reno, Nevada; and The Fountains, a 256-home development in Green Bay, Wisconsin. A key factor in this trend toward larger projects is increased system affordability and performance, says Lionel Lemay, PCA’s director of residential programs.
"In recent years, members of the concrete homebuilding industry have worked closely with government agencies and private business to make concrete wall systems safer to install, more reliable, and more affordable," says Lemay. "And we continue to strengthen those partnerships," he adds, citing the efforts of organizations including: the National Association of Home Builders and the NAHB Research Center; the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing; and many more.
Through an ongoing partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, PCA is also seeking to make concrete "safe rooms" (all-concrete, in-home rooms that protect people from winds and flying debris in severe storms) available and affordable for everyone. The two organizations together developed construction plans for concrete safe rooms, and in summer 1999, nearly 500 builders and homebuyers in Oklahoma attended educational safe room seminars co-sponsored by PCA and FEMA; more are planned for 2000.
Further efforts by the concrete homebuilding industry seek to make ICF systems more accessible and affordable. For example, PCA recently assisted in developing a section on ICFs in the 2000 International Residential Code, which should help simplify ICF home design. Through hundreds of local and national demonstration homes, the industry is recruiting and training new contractors every day. And standardized training materials, including handbooks, videos, and seminars, are now available across the country. In addition, builders can get the latest information on concrete homebuilding from PCA's residential web site, www.concretehomes.com or by calling their concrete homes hotline at (888) 333-4840.
Contacts
Lionel Lemay, PCA Managing Director: (847)966-6200
Marisa Kessel, FEMA Project Impact: (202) 835-8816
Based in Skokie, Illinois, the Portland Cement Association represents cement companies in the U.S. and Canada. It conducts market development, engineering, research, education, and public affairs programs.
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