ECO-Betong from Swerock wins Nordbygg’s Gold Medal for 2020

ECO-Betong from Swerock has been declared the winner of Nordbygg’s Gold Medal for 2020. The award is jointly backed by Nordbygg, industry magazine Byggindustrin and Svensk Byggtjänst. This year, the jury choose to recognize a product with a long history of constant development that could have a crucial impact on the future: climate-enhanced concrete, symbolized by ECO-Betong from Swerock.

The jury’s statement reads:

“In ECO-Betong, some of the cement has been replaced with slag, a waste product from the steel industry, thus reducing carbon emissions from the manufacturing process. Climate-enhanced concrete is the result of longstanding work on developing and adopting new techniques and new additives for the binder. The use of slag (and fly ash) is nothing new, but in Sweden the latest revisions of the concrete standards have enabled the future development of alternative binders and new, climate-enhanced products. As a climate-enhanced product, ECO-Betong serves the cause of building a sustainable society for the future and deserves to be promoted and spread far and wide.”

As in previous years, the 10 finalists were drawn from Byggindustrin’s regular list of top products. The editorial team selected the finalists and the jury then picked out a winner.

“Sustainable and climate-smart was the key theme of this year’s nominees for Nordbygg’s Gold Medal, and the jury was unanimous in choosing ECO-Betong. I see the development of ECO-Betong as a great example of the concrete industry’s drive to achieve its vision and substantially reduce its climate footprint,” says Peter Söderberg, Event Manager for Nordbygg and jury member.

Peter Söderberg’s fellow jury members were: Anna Göth, Svensk Byggtjänst; Anders Carlén, Byggindustrin; Anneli Kouthoofd, Byggmaterialindustrierna; and Björn Florman, Materials Library.

Previous winners:
The very first medal was awarded to Soltech Energy in 2010 for their solar energy system using glass roof tiles.

Last year’s winner, in 2019, was InviSense – a Swedish innovation spun out of research at Linköping University. The product comprises slim passive sensors that monitor moisture levels in the structure of a building and wirelessly pass the data on to a cloud service for analysis.

Over the years, the medal has been given to a whole host of innovations – from low-energy fans to biodegradable flame retardants.

All the nominees are described here: http://byggindustrin.se/guldmedaljen

For more information, please contact:
Peter Söderberg, Event Manager Nordbygg, peter.soderberg@stockholmsmassan.se, +46 8 749 43 93