JAMES MCDONALD NEW CAA CHAIRMAN
October 28, 2004

At this years AGM, the Cement Admixture Association (CAA) elected James McDonald as its new chairman. He takes over from Laurence McLennan of Sika, who has stepped down following two years in the post.

Originally qualifying as a chartered accountant, James McDonald left the accountancy profession in 1977 and has since has been involved in the admixtures business. He is currently the managing director of Cementaid (UK) Ltd.

CAA members account for more than 85% of UK admixture manufacturing capacity and the incoming chairman said that the CAA had been particularly successful over the last two years in both representing its members and supporting the UK concrete industry. Over this period the new European admixture standard EN 934 had been introduced and CAA members are now offering CE marking of all products covered by the standard.

The admixture industry has been at the centre of new and innovative developments within the concrete industry, including materials for Self-Compacting Concrete, Shrinkage Reduction and Corrosion Inhibition. He noted that admixtures were now widely accepted as an essential ingredient for sustainability and good quality concrete and sales had grown by almost 20% over the last two years.

Looking forward, James McDonald commented that European legislation would be a major issue for the admixture industry over the next few years and that the CAAs active involvement through membership of EFCA; the European Federation of Admixture Associations, would be essential. He said that Sustainability, REACH, the EAS for drinking water, Regulated Substances and further European admixture standards would all require significant input from CAA members.

European activity, however, should not detract from the need to support the UK concrete industry in driving innovative developments that would make concrete the construction material of choice for the 21 century, he advised.

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