Business description

Since it began trading in 2002 Ecocem Materials has grown to be Europe’s largest independent producer and distributor of high performance, low carbon cement - Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag (GGBS). The group has 4 production facilities located in France, Holland, Ireland, and import terminals in the UK and Sweden.

Ecocem Ireland, a subsidiary of Ecocem Materials, commissioned its production site in Dublin Port in 2003 and introduced a new era for concrete production in Ireland. In 2013 Ecocem opened its 25kg bagging plant, also located in Dublin Port which services the Irish and UK markets.

Products and services

Ecocem has a capacity to produce 2,4 million tonnes of Ecocem GGBS per year across its 4 production sites in Europe. This product has several unique qualities that make it an advanced cementitious material technology.

The cement industry accounts for approximately 5% of manmade CO2 emissions globally and is the largest source of industrial CO2 emissions in Ireland. Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is the most commonly used cement in the world. Each tonne uses approx. 1.6 tonnes of new quarried material and produces circa 900kg of CO2 in manufacturing. Ecocem’s GGBS uses no new material (recycles material from iron and steel production) and produces only 42kg of CO2 per tonne manufactured.

When used in concrete Ecocem’s GGBS produces concrete which is stronger, more durable, maintains greater workability and flow, and is more resistant to chemical attack than concrete which uses OPC only.

Ecocem’s GGBS enables a brighter, smoother finish for concrete.

Value proposition

Ecocem Materials Ltd is one of Europe’s leading independent producer and supplier of Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag (GGBS), an environmentally friendly cement, in its 4 manufacturing plants in Ireland (Dublin), the Netherlands (Moerdijk) and two in France (Fos-Sur-Mer and Dunkirk).

GGBS is truly one of the most sustainable building products in the world as it is not only manufactured from a by product of the iron making industry, it also lasts longer so does not have to be replaced as often. Ecocem strongly promotes its environmental and technical superiority and for every tonne of OPC replaced by Ecocem’s GGBS almost one tonne of CO2 is saved.

Standards and certificates

• Ecocem meets the European standard for manufacturing GGBS under EN15167-1:2006 and the GGBS used in concrete is governed by the concrete European Standard EN 206:2002 Concrete – Part 1: Specification, performance, production and conformity. IS EN 15167-1:2006 IS EN 15167-2 IS EN 197-1:2001 IS EN ISO 14001:2015 IS EN ISO 9001:2015 OHSAS 18001: 2007 EN 197-2 EN 934-2

Key partners