INSEE Cement’s contribution enriches Colombo’s B2B projects

With high rise iconic buildings rapidly changing the skyline in the city of Colombo, INSEE Cement is focusing its attention on these projects that benefit from the strength and durability that its product portfolio offers. 

B2B projects springing up in the city primarily come under two main categories – one is high rise buildings such as apartment complexes and hotels and the other is infrastructure facilities such as dams, bridges or highways and other major developments. The critical factors, specifically for infrastructure projects are strength and durability because these projects must last longer to serve the country and need to be durable.

High rise buildings on the other hand require high performance concrete combined with durability that brings a good return on investment (ROI) for the investor. This is achieved by ensuring more floor area by reducing column sizes with high strength concrete. Furthermore, INSEE Cement’s diverse product portfolio including blended cement delivers lower CO2 emission compared to traditional construction techniques. 

Explaining how INSEE Cement contributes to Sri Lanka’s rapidly developing construction industry, Siam City Cement (Lanka) Head of Industrial Sales Sanka Seneviratne said, “We have introduced performance monitoring tools to uplift industry standards and contribute to training, coaching and mentoring of engineers through knowledge sharing on the latest technology. This is achieved via knowledge sharing sessions initiated by the INSEE Innovation and Application centre. A tour Innovation and Application Centre we also conduct durability testing, performance evaluation testing, as well as material testing at project sites to improve product performance.”

INSEE Cement offers doorstep solutions at customer locations that set them apart as the nation’s only cement manufacturer offering this unique service. “We offer this service to most of our loyal customers as a comprehensive ‘bundle’ solution package” he said. “Especially when it comes to large scale projects and high-rise buildings, we are closely working with government institutions, universities and organisation as well as professional bodies to develop solutions. We work with three state universities – Moratuwa, Peradeniya and Ruhunu – to further develop solutions,” he added.

Describing how INSEE Cement develops performance based solutions, he said, “We first understand the customer requirements and then based on evaluation we would propose certain solutions already developed in our product portfolio or if it is a customised solution that is required, we closely work with universities to further develop a solution. This is handled through our Innovation and Application Centre, a dedicated Centre for comprehensive solution development for the industry. We also test out the materials used by the customer and assist in optimising their concrete mixes, evaluating different mixes, checking for instance whether the concrete can be pumped to the required height with state-of-the-art equipment which is only available at INSEE Innovation and Application Centre.”

INSEE Cement takes pride in adding value not only to customers but more importantly to the needs of the community with nationally relevant endeavours. Sanka elaborated that out of INSEE Cement’s range of 6 products 4 are Green Label certified products and that they are more durable than the traditional products in the market. 

“We developed a solution for Altair iconic project when they required early strength of 25 N/mm2 within 24 hours with INSEE Rapid Flow a high early strength cement and developed a solution for Lotus Tower project which required a durable concrete that can last almost 100 years. For that we have a developed concrete solution using INSEE Extra, a certified low heat sulphate resistant cement. Hambantota and Colombo South harbours needed a solution for concrete that is exposed to sea water. For Colombo City Centre, another iconic project, we proposed high flow concrete to reduce the time needed to place the concrete and reduce overall costs,” he explained, highlighting some of the recent projects that benefited from INSEE Cement.

INSEE Cement contributes to strengthening the nation in other ways too. “We conduct training programs to uplift the industry by knowledge sharing and promoting green cement products or blended cement which is minus CO2. Reducing global warming and contributing to climate change endeavours is one of our key focus areas. Thus, we are committed to introducing new products and solutions which are both environment friendly and high quality,” he said.