It was Amvic’s night at the biggest award celebration for ICFs (insulated concrete forms) held recently at the World of Concrete trade show in Las Vegas. Amvic won in an impressive four of the six category awards.

Entries incorporating 15 different types of ICF poured in from all over the country and all were noteworthy and impressive. Each project was judged based on its complexity, architecture, and how well it serves to advance the industry and draw positive attention to ICFs. As in previous years, the contest favours projects creativity, significance and difficulty of build more than other criteria.

Congratulations go out to our winners:

Crestwood Elementary School in the Heavy Commercial category;

Shershni Community in the Multi-Family category;

Mare Haven Residence in the Large Residential category;

Carrell Home in the Unlimited Residential category.

“We are honoured to be recognized amongst our peers for the superior product Amvic provides. We believe that to remain competitive, we need to continuously improve and provide innovation and technology to an ever-growing industry,” says Gary Brown of Amvic. “Congratulations go out to all our partners for their collective achievements!”

If you’d like to learn more about these projects, click here to read the Amvic ICF Award Recipients PDF or contact Gary Brown at Amvic ICF at 1.877.470.9991.

Every building material consumes resources and takes a toll on the environment, with even fully recycled products consuming energy. But the true measure of a product’s environmental impact is sustainability – satisfying our current needs without scarifying our ability to meet the needs of future generations.

You might already know that concrete offers exceptional stability, durability and design flexibility for the residential marketplace, however you may not realize how many important environmental advantages are offered through every stage of manufacturing and use, and because old concrete can be 100% recycled, the cycle can continue indefinitely. In fact, concrete is one of the single most environmentally friendly construction products available.

Here are just a few of the reasons:

Energy Efficiency:

The thermal mass of concrete buildings and homes saves energy year-round by reducing temperature swings. During the air-conditioning season, the building will require cooling mainly at night – an off-peak time when electric companies can produce power more efficiently and conserve fossil fuels. Many of today’s concrete wall systems, such as Amvic’s Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs) combine the mass of concrete with foam insulation. The resulting exterior wall envelope utilizes thermal mass, reduced air infiltration and increased R-Value than can reduce heating and cooling costs by as much as 40 percent.
Radiant floor heating with concrete suspended and on-grade floors is gaining popularity providing ease of construction and comfort assisting in energy efficiency as well.

Waste Reduction:

Concrete simplifies construction by minimizing the number of different building products involved – less sheathing and insulation, and fewer components than wood-framed construction. Concrete is manufactured on an “as needed” basis, eliminating the waste inherent in sheet goods and dimensional products for framing. Building with concrete puts less waste in our landfills. If replacement or demolition is required, old concrete can be ground up and reused as coarse aggregate, fill or pavement sub-base material.

For further details, please review the data sheets for LEED-NC and LEED for Homes illustrating how ICF products can contribute towards gaining LEED points.

Maziyar Bolour, P. Eng.
Structural Engineer