A Must-Attend Event for the Concrete & Construction Industry

WOCA 2025 will bring together top manufacturers, suppliers, and industry experts from around the world, offering unparalleled networking opportunities and insight into the latest trends in concrete products, flooring solutions, and masonry materials. With 650+ exhibitors and 40,000 attendees from 52 countries, the event continues to serve as a key meeting point for professionals in construction, real estate, and infrastructure development.

Why China? The Advantages of the Booming Concrete Market

China’s construction and concrete industries continue to offer unparalleled opportunities for global businesses. As the largest construction market in the world, China provides a strong foundation for growth and collaboration. Here’s why international visitors and exhibitors should not miss WOCA 2025:

• Leading Enterprise Brands – China is home to world-class concrete, flooring, and mortar manufacturers, known for their technological innovation, cost-effective solutions, and global competitiveness.
• Massive Market Demand – Ongoing urbanization, infrastructure development, and smart city projects drive a continuous demand for high-performance concrete, flooring, and mortar solutions.
• Superior Supply Chain – China’s comprehensive and efficient manufacturing ecosystem ensures high-quality, scalable, and cost-effective production of construction materials and equipment.
• A Well-Established Industry Platform – WOCA has been successfully held for many years, accumulating a strong reputation, a solid industry network, and a loyal professional audience. It serves as the ideal gateway for international companies to enter and expand in the Chinese and Asian markets.

Key Highlights of WOCA 2025

• Comprehensive Exhibition: A diverse range of products and solutions in Five major themed exhibition areas: flooring system, Flooring Material Processing, Concrete Surface Treatment Equipment, General Concrete and Mortar, including concrete equipment, machinery (including loading, crushing, mixing), tools, construction chemicals, decorative flooring, and innovative precast technologies.   
• Live Demonstrations & Interactive Showcases: Experience the latest flooring machinery and technologies in action, providing hands-on learning opportunities.
• Conferences & Forums: Gain insights from industry leaders on topics such as Development of High Quality Concrete Flooring Conference, WOCA Floor Cracking Technology Seminar, Special Mortar and Gypsum-Based Mortar Production and Application Technology Forum.
• Business Matchmaking & Networking: Connect with key decision-makers, project developers, and industry experts to explore new business opportunities.
• Leading Exhibitors: top companies showcasing the latest technologies and products, previous exhibitors including Sika, Somero, Simex, Husqvarna, Fosroc, Henkel, Dow Chemical, Bekaert, Aalborg Portland, Basle, NFLG, Xingyi, Conmec, Vanse, and others.
• 60+ On-site Activities: including international awards, live demonstrations, professional skills competitions, themed salons, technical seminars, business superstores club, and more.

WOCA 2025 Tailored Opportunities to Maximize Your ROI

• Join for Live Demonstrations and Workshops: Showcase your products in action and engage with your target audience directly.
• Join for Networking Opportunities: Build valuable connections with developers, architects, and key players shaping the industry’s future.
• Join for Market Insights and Trends: Stay ahead of the curve with exclusive access to industry trends and market data.

“World of Concrete Asia 2025 will serve as a catalyst for innovation in the concrete and construction sectors, providing a platform for global industry leaders to exchange ideas and explore the latest advancements,” said Athena Gong, Vice President of Informa Markets Asia Managing Director.  “We are excited to welcome exhibitors and visitors from around the world to Shanghai, where they can experience firsthand the future of construction.”

Join Us at WOCA 2025

Whether you’re looking to grow your business, connect with decision-makers, or explore the latest innovations, WOCA 2025 is the event you cannot afford to miss. Whether you are a manufacturer, contractor, architect, or developer, this event offers the perfect platform to expand your network, discover new technologies, and drive business growth.

For more information and to register, visit http://en.wocasia.cn  or contact Ada Feng at ada.feng@informa.com .

Stay updated by following us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube.

About Informa Markets

Informa Markets creates platforms for industries and specialist markets to trade, innovate and grow. We provide marketplace participants around the globe with opportunities to engage, experience and do business through face-to-face exhibitions, targeted digital services and actionable data solutions. We connect buyers and sellers across more than a dozen global verticals, including Pharmaceuticals, Food, Medical Technology and Infrastructure. As the world’s leading market-making company, we bring a diverse range of specialist markets to life, unlocking opportunities and helping them to thrive 365 days of the year.

Media Contact
Informa Markets Ada.feng@informa.com

The Golden Trowel has been presented for 36 years to contractors who produce the world’s flattest and most level floors. They are awarded in several different categories, based on how the floor was initially struck off, how wide the floor castings are, how much shake-on hardener or steel fibers were used, and other factors that influence flatness and levelness. Golden Trowel Gold Plates are awarded to the winner in each category, while Golden Trowel Silver Plates recognize truly outstanding entries that achieved exceptional results but did not dominate the category. The thought behind the genesis of the Golden Trowel was that competition might drive up quality. That thought has been proven conclusively to be true, year after year. The best floor in the world back in 1990 wouldn’t even be considered for a Golden Trowel today. And North America no longer dominates the awards. North America was shut out of the world records in 2019, won only one of two new world records in 2020, and was shut out again in 2021. The only new World Record this year was from Vietnam. And in 2024, of the 9 Gold and Silver Trowels awarded, 7 were from Brazil, China, Vietnam, and Thailand, and only 2 were from the USA! That’s quite a change from the recent past, when the USA dominated the awards.

Why are floors so much better now? People continue to learn how to use existing concrete placing and finishing tools to better advantage and are passing on that knowledge and skill to new generations of concrete finishers. Concrete floor consultants are learning what works and what doesn’t, and are teaching the best practices. And batch plants are being held to high standards on the concrete that they deliver to the field. The tools available are better than they were, even just a few years ago. The Somero Laser Screed revolutionized the way concrete could be struck off. As laser screeds got better and better, and as people learned the best ways to use them, the flatness and levelness of floors improved significantly, even as daily output was dramatically increased. All these factors have made a big difference in the flatness and levelness of floors. But so has striving for excellence and for the recognition that comes from being the best in the world – a winner of the Golden Trowel.

Over the first 25 years of the Golden Trowel® contest, we had winning entries from North and South America, Australia, and Europe, but not one from Asia. Because we noted that floors in Asia were neither as flat nor as level as floors in the West, and because floors in the West were constantly improving, it appeared to us that Asia might never catch up to the rest of the world without some incentive. 2024 2 For this reason, the Face Company inaugurated the “Golden Trowel Asia” contest in 2015. The Golden Trowel Asia is a special award available only to contractors in Asia. There have been a total of 26 Golden Trowel Asia Awards won by 14 different contractors from China, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, and Indonesia. The quality of floors has been improving very rapidly in Asia, at least for a small number of concrete floor contractors. This is obvious when you note that three of this year’s five Golden Trowels and half of the Silver Trowels are going to contractors in Asia!

2024 Golden Trowels

DINCO Engineering & Construction is a company in Da Nang, Vietnam that produces floors the old fashioned way: Hand-screeding the floors, but taking meticulous care to get the elevations right when they strike off the concrete. They use a Rod and Level to shoot the elevations on the floor every 300mm (every 1-ft) and then they scrape the high spots down and fill the low spots with dry shake before finishing the floor. This process is painstaking and manpower-intensive, but apparently they really know how to do it, because they produced a large (128,000 sf) and wide (72 ft wide) floor at Quang Tri, Vietnam, with a World-Record levelness of FL 113.4, blowing the socks off the previous record. Traditionally, hand-screeded floors have the worst FL Numbers of any type of floor, but not here.

Aside from that hand-screeded floor, this year’s Golden Trowels are in a relatively small number of categories dominated by the Laser Screed. It seemed as if everyone wanted to compete in one of the Laser Screed categories, so a few of the very best floors outshone many quite excellent floors. Even the third-and-fourth place floors would have been good enough to win just a year or two ago.

For the past few years, Brazil has been a center of excellence in flat floor technology. We had many entries from Brazil this year, but Gran Nobre Pisos Industriais, from São Paulo, Brazil, outshone the others by producing not one, but two winning floors in the large Laser Screed category (over 100,000 square feet) and the ultra-large Laser screed category. (over half a million square feet) In the Large Laser Screed category, they produced a 211,000 sf floor in São Paulo that measured FF 118 and FL 115.4, and it had 4 Kg/m2 Dry Shake. Any time both your FF and FL Numbers are above 115, you have a very special floor. Gran Nobre Pisos also produced a huge 600,000 sf floor, with 74 ft (very wide) pours at Itupeva, São Paulo and achieved FF 109.9 / FL 87.2. It’s hard to get the same high F-Numbers over and over again, day after day, for 49 separate pours.

Chengdu Keyixin Technology Co., Ltd., from Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, won their first “Golden Trowel Asia” in 2019, then went on to win their first Golden Trowel in the worldwide contest in 2020. They got a Golden Trowel this year for using a Copperhead to produce a floor of almost 100,000 sf, with 76 ft wide bays, at Chengdu, Sichuan, China, that measured FF 94.2 / FL 100 – and this floor had 6 Kg /m2 Dry Shake and 45 Kg/m2 Steel Fibers.

The Nutcon Corporation Co., Ltd., from Nongtumlueng, Thailand, produced another Golden Trowel winner this year. It was a relatively small (84,000 sf) Laser Screed project at Chonburi, Thailand with 85 ft wide bays that came in at FF 116.4 / FL 101.8.

2024 Silver Trowels

Silver Trowels are a sort of “Distinguished Honorable Mention” category. Silver Trowels are not awarded in every category, but as you will see below, sometimes a floor that would have won a Golden Trowel, is overshadowed by an even more spectacular floor the same year. This kind of a floor deserves recognition and is awarded a Silver Trowel.

As noted above, Chengdu Keyixin Technology Co., Ltd. won a Golden Trowel this year for a Copperhead project. Chengdu Keyixin also produced another floor, over 100,000 sf and 72 ft wide, with 7 Kg /m2 Dry Shake and 45 Kg/m2 Steel Fibers at Deyang, Sichuan, China that was won a Silver Trowel in the large Laser Screed category. This floor was FF 93.8 / FL 94.5, and it would have won Gold in 2018.

VEMAC Inc., out of El Paso, produced a high quality floor in a very unusual way. The floor was 223,000 square feet, the pours were 245 ft wide, and it was produced in two pours on two days, which, incidentally, were in the desert outside El Paso and had 40-degree temperature swings. They told me that they wanted to see how far they could push the limit of technology. They did, and they got a very respectable FF 73.2 and FL 53.5.

Xi’an Beaver Concrete Floors Co., Ltd., from Shannxi, China, produced a Laser Screed floor that had an FF Number of 84.0 that is rather ordinary by Golden Trowel standards, but a truly fantastic FL of 127.0. The judges sometimes must compare one project with extraordinary FF Numbers against another project with wonderful FL Numbers. In this case, we can sum the FF + FL Numbers to obtain a sort of “overall score” for comparison. When we did this, Nutcon’s Laser Screed floor in this category just beat out Beaver for the Gold. Last year, Beaver would have won the Gold with this floor in Xi’an City, Shaanxi, China.

We have seen large floors before in the Golden Trowel competition. We have had a number that were over 1 million square feet, and some at 1.6 million square feet, but this year, Eldridge Concrete Construction, from Newton Grove NC, produced a floor at Ellabel, GA, that was just short of 2 million square feet, the largest that we have ever seen in Golden Trowel competition, and got FF 107.6 and FL 55.7. The only reason they did not win gold was because Gran Nobre Pisos’ Lyon project, also huge, had higher numbers.

A total of 153 different contractors from North and South America, Europe, Central America, Asia, and Australasia have claimed the 398 Trowels awarded in the contest’s 36-year history (1989 through 2024)

The WOCA Awards technical team will conduct on-site testing on three features of the flooring projects: flatness, abrasion resistance and tensile adhesive strength in accordance with international standards. It will refer to ASTM E-1155 (American Society for Testing and Materials), EN13813 and ASTM D7234 standards. Submissions will be accepted for projects with a minimum of 1,000 SQM in three main categories: Concrete Surface Floor, Cementitious Mortar Surface Floor & Resin Floor.

WOCA AWARDS aim to recognize floor projects contractors with outstanding engineering quality.

Application Time：2024.03.01– 10.31

Judgment Criteria
1.Multiply the corresponding coefficients according to the detection data of each dimension, and then add up.
2.The project with highest total score in each flooring type are gold award winners in that type. The second and third were awarded the silver award.

Click to download the registration！

On a recent job, we needed to restore a section of structural concrete. This particular job was a repair to an overhead section in a lighting niche in the mechanic’s well at a garage that services school buses. Though it’s not the most usual example, it provided a textbook case on concrete restoration.

Surface prep
The first step was to remove the damaged concrete, using a rotary hammer to chip away the bulk of the loose material and a grinder to take the concrete down to solid material. The goal was to work back to a solid base and to fully expose the existing rebar so we could fully encase it in repair mortar. In addition, we used a grinder to remove the old paint around the repair area. This would help blend in the repair so when the final work is painted, you won’t see where the new concrete meets the existing surface.

Some surface corrosion of the rebar had occurred but not enough to decrease the dimension of the steel to any significant extent. We used a wire brush to clean up the rebar and then painted it with Rust-oleum Green Rebar epoxy paint. It’s important not to get any paint on the surrounding concrete; otherwise, it can interrupt the bond of the new concrete with the old material.

WOC Asia 2024 is the only comprehensive exhibition for Concrete, Flooring and Mortar industries in Asia, showcasing high-quality products, leading technologies, and the latest solutions in concrete, flooring and mortar industries. Covering more than 50,000 square meters of exhibition space, WOC Asia 2024 is expected to gather over 720 exhibitors and will hold over 60 education sessions during the three-day event. And the event is expected to welcome 50,000 trade visitors home and abroad, including distributors, manufacturers, contractors, owners, developers, architects and designers.

Click for Visitor Badge

A comprehensive three-day event for one-stop efficient visit

WOCA will create a one-stop efficient platform for manufacturers, real estate developers, owners, designers, contractors, distributors and engineering companies to source, network and generate new business opportunities. The event covers the whole industry chain, and adapt the evolving demands of different industry sectors, including industrial, education, residential, hospitality, healthcare, public space, office, commercial complex, retail and etc. Buyers from overseas are expected to increase significantly，such as Japan, Korea, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. Discover the pulse of China’s construction industry, Register Now! And SAVE THE DATE!

Some of the 2024 exhibitors:

Concrete：

QUATROMATIC、NL SCIENTIFIC、TENGZHOU STAR、NINGBO SHIKE、SHANGHAI DRAGON、YUTIAN ZHITA、SHANDONG ZHAOFAN、TIANJIN HENGFENG、GANSU SANYUAN

Flooring：

SHANGHAI ZHENGOU、WUHAN DELIGU、ZICHEN GROUP、SHANDONG VANSE、SHANGHAI SHUAITU、SHANGHAI ZHONGJIU、CONMEC ENGINEERING、ZHEJIANG JINGKUN、SHANDONG HUAANG、SHANGHAI YIYUE、SUZHOU TIANCHANG、SHANGHAI JIANSONG、

NINGBO CHEERS、FUJIAN XINGYI、HUSQVARNA CONSTRUCTION、JIANGSU SANMU、GUANGDONG ZHISHENG、TIANJIN CFS、JIANGSU HUACAN、YAMU MECHANICAL、SHANGHAI JIEZHOU、DONGGUAN MERROCK、FUZHOU BONTAI、TAIAN LIANGTENG、CHANGGE QIUTIAN、HOUXIANG YOUPIN、NANTONG XINGCHEN、ASHINE DIAMOND

Mortar：

TANGSHAN POLAR BEAR、SHANGHAI INSHINE、TIANJI HAVERN、AALBORGPORTLAND、TAIAN HUAWE、SHANGHAI GREENCHEM、SHUANGLONG GROUP、YINSHAN WHITE、NINGJIN WANQIANG、TOP-CELLU

WOC Asia 2024 Education features 60+sessions

• Industrial and Commercial Flooring Application Case Forum
• New Advances in Flooring Engineering Technology
• Development of High Quality Concrete Flooring Conference
• Concrete Damage Repair Forum
• Floor Concrete and Admixture Application Technology Forum
• Key Technology and Production Application of Factory-Made Mortar Forum
• Technology Enhancement of Flowable Mortar Production Seminar
• Asia Public Space Flooring Conference
• Sports Flooring Technology Application Forum
• Urban Renewal and Commercial Interior Design Forum

Onsite Events provides networking opportunities for you business

• Gold Trowel Award Asia Awards
• WOCA AWARDS
• Live Demonstration
• National Floor Industry Vocational Skills Competition Finals
• WOCA Business Matching Service

WOCA 2024 pre-registration opens, and you can register for a free badge by registering now. Pre-registration can enjoy various benefits!

1. Online Registration

Log in to the WOCA official website (https://en.wocasia.cn/)to fill out information or register online now (https://sourl.cn/q6EUd2);

2. Email Registration

Call the audience hotline to register, the phone number: 0086 21 6157 7284;

3. Group Registration

If your company has 5 or more colleagues visiting the WOCA, please contact: sophia.li@informa.com, to apply for group pre-registration.

Las Vegas, NV (January 31, 2023) Informa Markets’ World of Concrete, the world’s largest tradeshow fostering the growing concrete and masonry construction industries, concluded its 49th annual event held this past week at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). With 48,009 registered professionals, heavy foot traffic on the show floor and over 120 countries in attendance, the World of Concrete further solidifies itself as the critical meeting place for industry advancement.

“The 2023 edition of World of Concrete far exceeded our expectations. The crowded show floor and packed educational sessions proves how essential meeting face to face is, that it remains important now more than ever to have a space to connect, to learn, to share across the concrete, masonry and construction industries as a vital contributor to our economy,” says Jackie James, Vice President, World of Concrete. “In-person attendance is on its way back to pre-pandemic levels and the World of Concrete event leads global trends in construction.”

World of Concrete took more than 587,000 net square footage (NSF) of the convention center, with both indoor and outdoor spaces full of product displays, demonstrations and competitions. Notable highlights included unveiling of exciting new innovations, such as the first ever Mobile 3D Robotic Concrete Printer and AI Site Map Printer, top of the line work trucks with electric batteries and aerodynamic improvements, and the widest range of original manufactured equipment from excavators to wireless concrete sensors, AI-based platforms and modern materials like the eco-driven Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.

The highly anticipated 2023 edition of the SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER 500® competition was also held on Wednesday, January 18. The winner, mason Michael Schlund, a Wisconsin native and his tender, Arron Kowalski, laid 759 bricks in one hour, and Schlund was crowned “World’s Best Bricklayer” leaving with a new Ford F250 4×4 Super Duty truck, an Essick Pro12 Mixer, and more than $15,000 in cash and prizes.  Scott Tuttle, mason, and Brian Tuttle, tender, took second place with 716 bricks in one hour. Brian is a former World Champion and winner of SPEC MIX TOP CRAFTSMAN, making Brian and Scott Tuttle among the most experienced competitors in this year’s field. The event’s second most coveted award, the SPEC MIX TOP CRAFTSMAN®, went to mason Mario Hernandez and mason tender Gerson Lux, who built “the most sellable wall.”

Returning for the 18th consecutive year, The Concrete Industry Management (CIM) program held its Silent & Live Auctions, generating a record-breaking fund of more than $2.1 million. Live auction and online donations fueled the grant for the program designed to prepare students for the concrete workforce early in their careers. The CIM program provides students with a Bachelor of Science degree in Concrete Industry Management, a business program specifically developed for the concrete industry. The proceeds from the 2023 CIM Auction will benefit the CIM National Steering Committee (NSC) and support the current CIM programs at Middle Tennessee State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Texas State University, California State University – Chico, South Dakota State University, the Executive MBA program, as well as help fund scholarships. World of Concrete has also donated $15,000 to the CIM Education Program for the second consecutive year.

This year World of Concrete also offered more than 160 technical sessions, including hands-on training, safety expertise and business development. Noted new additions to the 2023 education program were eight concrete basics and leadership courses presented in Spanish, a revamped three-hour comprehensive concrete repair track, and new workshops focusing specifically on women in construction.

“Over 300,000 concrete contractors are employed in the United States and represent the backbone of the American and international workforce, says Kevin Thornton, SVP of Construction, Informa Markets. “World of Concrete is proud to support laborers in education and connection providing opportunity to advance the industry toward enhanced sustainability, efficiency and safety, and continuing growth.”

SAVE THE DATE!

World of Concrete Asia

Date: August 10-12, 2023

Location: Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC)

Contacts

For Booth Reservation

Jessie Shen, +86-021-6157-3939

For Marketing

Ada Feng, +86-021-6157-7251

E-mail

info@wocaisa.com

World of Concrete Asia (WOCA), one of the Asia’s major events in the concrete and masonry industry, will return this November 9-11, 2022 in Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center. With the increased in demand for trade and more business opportunities, the event is going to be held one month earlier than its original date December 14-16, 2022 and it will be at a new venue closer to city center. 

Exhibitors who have already confirmed participation for WOCA 2022 will automatically be transferred to this new date and venue. 

The three-day event will feature one-stop sourcing trade fair integrating the concrete, mortar and flooring with over 720 exhibitors participating. Industry experts will be sharing the latest industry trends, innovation and technology in the revamped WOCA Education program. 

We thank the industry’s support to WOCA for the past several years. We cannot wait to see you this 2022 – to trade, learn, and reconnect once again. Mark your calendars for November 9-11, 2022 for WOCA 2022 in Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center.

Best Regards,

Informa Markets

WOCA Team

Because the global pandemic once again prevented Face® representatives and most of the winners from attending this year’s WOC, awards for the winners who did attend were presented by Bryan Birdwell of Structural Services, Inc., a 26-time Golden Trowel winner, (with 6 world records) and a recipient of the Golden Trowel “Sam” Award. The other 2021 Golden Trowels will be presented to the winners in public at a later date.

The Golden Trowel has been presented for 33 years to contractors who produce the world’s flattest and most level floors. They are awarded in several different categories, based on how the floor was initially struck off, how wide the floor castings are, how much shake-on hardener or steel fibers were used, and other factors that influence flatness and levelness. Golden Trowel Gold Plates are awarded to the winner in each category, while Golden Trowel Silver Plates recognize truly outstanding entries that achieved exceptional results but did not dominate the category. The thought behind the genesis of the Golden Trowel was that competition would drive up quality. That thought has been proven conclusively to be true, year after year. The best floor in the world back in 1990 wouldn’t even be considered for a Golden Trowel today. And North America no longer totally dominates the awards. North America was shut out of the world records in 2019, won only one of two new world records in 2020, and was shut out again in 2021.

Why are floors so much better now? People continue to learn how to use existing concrete placing and finishing tools to better advantage and are passing on that knowledge and skill to new generations of concrete finishers. Concrete floor consultants are learning what works and what doesn’t and are teaching the best practices. And not to be ignored, batch plants are being held to high standards on the concrete that they deliver to the field. The tools available are better than they were, even just a few years ago. The Somero Laser Screed revolutionized the way concrete could be struck off. As laser screeds got better and better, and as people learned the best ways to use them, the flatness and levelness of floors improved significantly even as daily output was dramatically increased. All these factors have made a big difference in the flatness and levelness of floors. But so has striving for excellence and for the recognition that comes from being the best in the world – a winner of the Golden Trowel.2021

2021 World Records

The Laser Screed category has been undeniably the most hotly-contested category in the Golden Trowel contest for many years. Most of the world’s best concrete floor contractors own laser screeds and know how to use them… but there must be something in the water in Australia, because Australian companies have won world records in each of the last 4 years in Laser Screed categories. Other world record winners in the past ten years have included companies from Brazil, with 4 world records, Spain, and yes, 2 other companies from Australia. The last time a company from the USA won a world record in the laser screed category was 9 years ago when Birdwell Builders won one in 2012. The fact that we are still breaking world records almost every year means that floors are getting better every year.

S&C Concrete Services, of Perth, Western Australia, won their 2nd Golden Trowel, also their 2nd World Record, at Bunnings Midland, a Laser Screed project of 113,000 square feet, with pours 75 ft wide and got an incredible FF 155 / FL 129. That is a very fine floor! They used a Somero SXP Laser Screed.

With so many companies using Laser Screeds, hand screeding a floor using a wet screed technique is almost a lost art. It is hard and tedious work. And while Australia has been dominating the world records in Laser Screeds, Brazilians have been doing pretty much the same thing in the hand screed/wet screed category. Six of the best seven floors in the hand screed/wet screed category have been won by two companies from Brazil. The only floor of the top seven that was not won by a Brazilian company was done by Birdwell Builders in 2012. But of the top seven in this category, one company has five of the best all-time, and that company, Alphapiso Tec em Pisos, has a world record again this year for their project at Assai Nações Unidas. This 67,000 square foot floor hand-screeded floor was a stunning FF 137.8 with an FL of 53.9. And this floor was made with the addition of 4 Kilograms of dry shake per square meter. The Golden Trowel used during this ceremony is the one that they won last year. They were not able to attend the World of Concrete last year, so they are getting last year’s award this year. Incidentally, Alphapiso is no stranger to the Golden Trowel awards, having won a total of 13 Golden Trowel awards, including eight in the Laser Screed category with two World Records, and five in the wet screed category, with two world records. And they have done all of this since 2013.

Other 2021 Golden Trowels:

Grupo Zorzin, also from Brazil, built a narrow strip floor of 46,300 square feet that measured a great FF 135 / FL 121 at their project CD Prati Donaduzzi in Toledo, Brazil. This is their second Golden Trowel. (Their first was a world record, also in a narrow strip project)

GJ Shaw, from Kansas City, another perennial Golden Trowel winner, produced a floor with a Somero S-22E Laser Screed at East Trails Middle School in Lee’s Summit MO that was 88 ft wide, surrounded by walls, and measured a very fine FF 112 / FL 119. Their five previous wins have included two world records for Slab On Metal Deck.

Producing concrete floor surfaces for ice rinks is always a real challenge. The concrete is placed over multiple layers of Styrofoam insulation and over cooling pipes that will create the ice surface above the concrete. This year, LaRusso Concrete, from Wilsonville, OR produced an NHL-sized ice rink at Climate Pledge at the Seattle Center Arena renovation using a Somero S-940 that measured FF 85.5 / FL 67.2. This is LaRusso’s first Golden Trowel award.

Fmin Projects:

Building a large Very Narrow Aisle warehouse floor can be very difficult. The longer the aisles, the harder it is to hold to the very tight tolerances that are required. Unlike random traffic floors, VNA warehouses are evaluated with not two but four different Fmin Numbers, and (this is important) instead of treating the measurements statistically by averaging the good spots in with the bad, VNA warehouses are evaluated by their single worst measurements in each aisle. In other words, it does not matter if you have more than 600 feet of mirror-flat floor; if you have one single spot in the aisle with a flaw, the quality of the floor at that one worst spot is used to evaluate the floor. Fmin is a different sort of F-Number that reflects the ride quality of a floor in a narrow aisle warehouse. There are four different Fmin Numbers that must all meet the spec: Longitudinal Levelness, or fore-and-aft tilt; Longitudinal Flatness, or bumpiness in the fore-and aft direction; Transverse Levelness, or sideways tilt; and finally Transverse Flatness, or side-to-side rocking. Extreme Elements of Akron, OH, produced a VNA warehouse floor at the TJX Homegoods Distribution Center in Warren, OH, with 25 aisles that were mostly 635 feet long, a total of more than 2 ½ linear miles of aisles using two S-22 Laser Screeds, achieving the following Fmin Numbers: Fmin Longitudinal Flatness 128.9; Fmin Longitudinal Levelness 71.1; Fmin Transverse Levelness 135.5; and Fmin Transverse Flatness 119.2.

2020 Silver Trowels

Silver Trowels are a sort of “Distinguished Honorable Mention” category. Silver Trowels are not awarded in every category, but as you will see below, sometimes a floor that would have won a Golden Trowel, is overshadowed by an even more spectacular floor the same year. This kind of a floor deserves recognition and is awarded a Silver Trowel.

B&B Concrete of Kansas produced a rather unique specialty floor for Project Belmont in Mooresville, IN. This was a “Autostore” facility. It is not a car parts store, but rather a robotic storage facility with a tight elevation tolerance where robots crawl along racking to retrieve packages and bring them to a location where they are transferred to trucks. The racking system has to be built on a very flat and level floor in order to work properly. B&B produced this 59,000 square foot facility using a Somero S-22EZ and achieved FF 106, FL 88. They won the Silver trowel because they were in the same category with GJ Shaw. As little as 4 years ago, this would have been a Golden Trowel, but floors are getting better every year. This is B&B Concrete’s first appearance in the Golden Trowel contest.

Concrea Ingenieria from Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico, produced a 312,000 square foot, 80 ft wide jointless Laser screed floor at CDNA Truper. This is a high-tech floor, equipped with real-time load measurement instruments. It measured FF 93, FL 71. This is the 5th award for Concrea, and the first in a Laser Screed category. They were unfortunate in that this project is in the same category as S&C Concrete Services’ world record.

A total of 146 different contractors from North and South America, Europe, Central America, Asia, and Australasia have claimed the 366 Trowels awarded in the contest’s 33-year history (1989 through 2021).

Las Vegas, NV (January 21, 2022) – World of Concrete, Informa Markets’ premiere exhibition serving the thriving construction and masonry industries, concluded the event’s 47th annual event held this past week – Expo, January 18-20; Education, January 17-20 – at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). Convening close to 37,000 registered professionals, the consistent foot traffic in the expo halls, high engagement with the comprehensive educational offerings, and overall vibrance exuded from participants underscores the industry’s critical need for in-person connection.

World of Concrete took over 632,000 NSF of the expansive and newly expanded LVCC, hosting over 1,100 industry-leading suppliers in the expo hall, just over 150 of which were first-time exhibitors, offering attendees a wide range of brands to explore from the most sought-after global enterprises to niche SMBs spanning a variety of applications.

“The level of engagement from companies of all sizes and corners of the industry was very encouraging, especially following the past couple challenging years, and points to the revival of the trade show industry and continued growth of the construction and masonry sectors,” remarked Jackie James, Group Director, World of Concrete. “We are thrilled with the positive feedback we’ve received from our community, buyers and suppliers alike, and look forward to seeing a wealth of new business partnerships and industry innovation resulting from this week’s event.”

In addition to a robust expo floor, registered participants had the rare opportunity to engage with world-class education made available at the must-attend event. World of Concrete’s coveted educational programs serves as an incubator for knowledge sharing and technical know-how, helping the industry overcome challenges and tap into new opportunities for growth. With more than 11,000 expert-led sessions, this year’s highly curated education explored a balance of technical and forward-looking topics, ranging from 3D printing in concrete construction, women in construction, waterproofing: the next generation of solutions, and much more.

James continued: “Year after year, industry professionals flock to World of Concrete for its highly regarded education and the unique opportunity to garner technical certifications to help professionals navigate this complex industry. This year was no different; we were pleased to see meeting rooms packed with engaged attendees bouncing ideas off peers – it is admirable to witness this industry’s continued ambition to grow and share ideas.”

Not only does the industry gather at World of Concrete’s annual event for deal-making and education, but to see and demo the most cutting-edge products available on the market and see the latest industry developments that lay the groundwork for the coming year. Trends from the 2022 event include, but are not limited to:

—— Greater job site productivity, with new battery systems that deliver more power to the hand tools used to perform demanding concrete tasks, such as drilling, cutting, and demolition;

—— Introduction of equipment that is automating concrete construction activities, including 3D printing, rebar tying, and drilling overhead holes;

—— Entrance of new materials that increase contractor productivity while still ensuring durable repairs;

—— Streamlined management data management systems that enable contractors to tighten a project’s critical path;

—— And product and equipment updates that reduce a project’s carbon footprint and increase contractor productivity.

Returning for the 17th consecutive year, The Concrete Industry Management (CIM) program held its Silent & Live Auctions, generating an all-time record of more than $1,740,000. Donations originated from the live auction and online contributions, marking a historic moment in the program’s rich history at World of Concrete that is designed to give students entering the concrete workforce industry experience early in their careers. World of Concrete is proud to partner with the CIM program, a business program developed specifically for the concrete industry to provide students with a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Concrete Industry Management.

Published on the front page of the Las Vegas Review-Journal for its exciting and action-packed competition, the 2022 edition of the ever-exciting SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER 500® World Championship crowned Mason Cole Stamper as the “World’s Best Bricklayer,” along with his mason tender, Jeff Becker. The two took home top honors and bragging rights, in addition to a new Ford F250 4×4 truck and more than $10,000 in cash and prizes. Scott Tuttle and mason tender Brian Tuttle locked in the second most coveted award at the event, the SPEC MIX TOP CRAFTSMAN, laying 730 brick in one hour. Their remarkable effort won the Tuttles a new Kubota RTV-X1140, plus more than $10,000 in cash and prizes. For complete results of the 2022 SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER 500® competition and images from the event, visit here.

New this year and central to World of Concrete’s core values, the exhibition organizers formalized the event’s commitment to sustainability in collaboration with renewable energy partner/sponsor HILTI. The program was intentionally executed with three objectives: Inspiring Sustainable Development, Environmental Responsibility, and Social Responsibility – each pledge supporting the event’s commitment to shaping the concrete industry for a sustainable future. Thanks to HILTI’s Renewable Electricity sponsorship, World of Concrete’s electricity use is powered by sustainable and renewable energy sources, saving an estimated 204 tons of CO2e.

Learn more about what sustainable events mean to Informa Markets here.

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About World of Concrete
World of Concrete is the industry’s ONLY annual international event dedicated to the commercial concrete and masonry construction industries. Featuring indoor and outdoor exhibits with the industry’s leading suppliers showcasing innovative products and technologies, exciting demonstrations and competitions, and a world-class education program. Visit www.worldofconcrete.com for details.

ABOUT INFORMA MARKETS
Informa Markets creates platforms for industries and specialist markets to trade, innovate and grow. We provide marketplace participants around the globe with opportunities to engage, experience, and do business through face-to-face exhibitions, targeted digital services, and actionable data solutions. We connect buyers and sellers across more than a dozen global verticals, including Pharmaceuticals, Food, Medical Technology, and Infrastructure. As the world’s leading market-making company, we bring a diverse range of specialist markets to life, unlocking opportunities and helping them to thrive 365 days of the year. For more information, please visit www.informamarkets.com.