The European Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Association (EAACA) promotes the interests of producers of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) and their national associations across all of Europe. Founded in 1988, EAACA has members from 18 countries operating more than 100 production sites and producing around 16 million m3 of AAC per year, enough to build about 350,000 homes.

EAACA is the voice of the AAC industry at European level. The European Institutions and the legislation they create can have a direct effect on manufacturers, for example by setting standards for products or buildings that use them. They also shape the market indirectly by defining framework conditions such as climate and energy policy that in turn translates into requirements for buildings. Since its founding, EAACA is working towards the following objectives:

1. Shape the regulatory environment and promote the growing market opportunity for AAC in Europe.
2. Promote the benefits of AAC as the building material for affordable, sustainable and highly-energy efficient buildings.
3. Be represented vis-à-vis policy makers, stakeholders and technical platforms on the EU level.

Work in EAACA is carried out within specialised Committees. These consist of highly qualified and experienced professionals delegated from their member organisation or company. For example, the Technical Committee produces industry-leading work on standardization such as category recommendations for design of reinforced AAC or new CEN standards.

Members

The logic is simple – the more members we have, the more effective we can carry out this work. At political level, EAACA has successfully defended the interests of AAC producers towards EU regulators that will ultimately determine the market conditions we all operate under – most recently with regard to the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive that was completed at the end of 2019. EAACA managed to maintain the concept of material-neutrality (no preference for timber!) and obtain the recognition of fire and seismic safety as important elements to consider by national governments in their building plans.

European climate targets

The EU continues to develop more ambitious climate targets and environmental legislation. In the coming years we can expect to see new legislation on Construction and Demolition Waste. You know that landfilling it will be almost prohibited by 2035 but now we could see targets for its recycling and recycled content in new products. The European Commission will also continue to push forward its indicator framework assessing how sustainable building materials are. These developments will shape our future market and will have to be addressed jointly by AAC producers through EAAC.