This year it is 150 years since the Swedish cement industry started. Since then, the importance of cement and concrete as building blocks of our society have just continued to grow. But they are also materials that arouse strong feelings – not least for their climate impact.
Our webinar Cement for 150 years, organized in collaboration with Cementa, is about all this. See the whole webcast here (the film is 60 min long); and more about the program further below.
Cement for 150 years
In 1871, Skånska Cementaktiebolaget, today’s Cementa, was founded in southern Sweden. Then and there, the Swedish cement industry started. For the past 150 years, domestic cement, along with its end-product concrete, has been used to build roads, bridges, ports, tunnels, power stations and not least homes. But it is also a material that is easy to see the problems with: it is hard, impersonal – and has a negative climate impact. Our webinar is about all this.
The webinar is led by Anders Houltz, (left) head of research at the Center for Business History, in conversation with Sven-Erik Johansson (right), historical expert at Cementa. They will dive into three important subject areas for the history of cement – and the future! – with a special guest for each block.
Block 1: Cement as material
How has the material itself developed over the years. What are the properties of cement, what makes it so suitable as a building material for not least large projects – and what will characterize the cement of the future?Hur har själva materialet cement utvecklats genom åren. Vad har det för egenskaper, vad är det som gör det så lämpat som byggmaterial för inte minst stora projekt – och vad kommer känneteckna framtidens cement?
We talk about this with Katja Frid, Head of Malmö University, Department of Materials Science and Applied Mathematics.
Block 2: Cementet as a building material
Many businesses want to say that “we built society”. Few can say it with the same concrete (pardon the pun) meaning as the cement industry. Cement, which is also the most important component in concrete, is found in almost everything we see around us. How did that development really go?
We talk about this with Martin Rörby, architectural historian and writer..
Block 3: The climate and sustainability impact of cement
The cement affects the climate – and has done so to varying degrees over the years. What has that development looked like, how does the cement industry work today to reduce its climate impact, and what demands can be made on the industry?
We talk about this with Svante Axelsson (left), national coordinator for Fossil-Free Sweden, and Karin Comstedt Webb, head of sustainability at Cementa.
