We’re proud when our cement can be a part of a noteworthy project. But when we learned that we were awarded the AMD computer chip plant in Malta, and One World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, everyone at the plant was thrilled.

Both projects are hugely significant, and for important reasons beyond their exceptional size. The AMD computer chip plant will be built with concrete that will help qualify it for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) registration with the United States Green Building Council, while the World Trade Center represents a powerful symbol of recovery and renewal after the disastrous 9/11 attacks.

The 200-acre AMD computer chip plant (“chip-fab”) 30 miles north of Albany will employ more than 1,500 workers directly and stimulate the employment of an estimated 5,000 additional workers indirectly. Bonded Concrete of Watervliet is supplying concrete to build the plant. The company has already installed a portable concrete batch plant on-site and has selected Portland cement from Lafarge as a component in a custom concrete mix that will be used for the project. The builders of the chip-fab chose concrete for its thermal mass, which facilitates heating and cooling, and for its superior qualities in sound-insulation, water run-off control and lighting efficiency, due to reflectivity. In addition to achieving these important environmental advantages, Bonded Concrete also chose Lafarge due to its location just 40 miles from the project. This limits transportation costs, impacts on local roads and airborne emissions from trucks transporting the cement from Lafarge to the project site.

At One World Trade Center, Lafarge is supplying cement for both the high-rise Freedom Tower and the World Trade Center Memorial Building and site. The foundation of the tower will utilize 20,000 cubic yards (CY) of concrete, and the building itself will use 120,000 CY of high-strength, low-heat-mass concrete. Exposed concrete walls will be a major architectural feature of the memorial and its site, with 15,000 CY of concrete used for the foundation and 50,000 CY for the structure.