Lafarge to spend 450m euros on building better cities

 Lafarge’s plan to contribute to building better cities, will be supported by innovation, which targets an additional Ebitda of 450 million euros in its 2012-2015 plan.

This, according to a statement from Lafarge, “will be achieved thanks to our new offers, new services, and new market approach and through our commercial excellence objective.”

Contributing to building better cities is the ambition of Lafarge. “It is driving our innovation, and is now embedded in a modernised logo,” said the statement.

The statement, issued by its media relations office, says by 2050, close to 70 percent of the world’s population, estimated at 9 billion people, will be living in towns and cities, compared to just over 50 percent today. “Urbanisation on such a scale will be a challenge and an opportunity for the entire construction industry, and especially for Lafarge, present throughout the world, but most particularly in emerging countries, where the Group is strongly established.”

Read also: Lafarge sees opportunity for economic growth in creating livable, productive cities

Lafarge, a major player with its cement, aggregates and concrete businesses, has placed innovation and performance, at the heart of its strategy. Its ambition is to contribute to building better cities by developing value-added products, and construction systems, as well as solutions and services to meet some of the great challenges of urbanisation.

Addressing five main challenges, Lafarge’s ambition to contribute to building better cities, includes solutions contributing to more housing in cities, to address the issue of housing for all, including affordable housing; more compact cities, with the construction of vertical buildings which help reduce urban sprawl; more durable cities, with long-lasting constructions and by taking full account of environmental concerns, including energy efficiency of buildings and water preservation; more beautiful, enabling architectural creativity and performance; and more connected cities, with a special offer for roads, airports, stations, bridges, tunnels and all infrastructures in general.

A world leader in building materials, Lafarge employs 65,000 people in 64 countries, and posted sales of €15.8 billion in 2012.