Alkern, leader in precast concrete products, ready for low carbon and RE2020

Thus, if in 2010 the industrialist posted a turnover of 122 million euros with nearly 650 employees, Alkern now achieves more than 200 million turnover with a thousand employees, i.e. a doubling of its size in space. of 10 years.

We should also recognize the know-how of the Alkern Group as an integrator, which targets each acquisition, allows companies that are sometimes without succession to continue and develop within a group that advocates safety and performance.

It should be noted that 90% of this turnover is achieved in France and 10% in Belgium, and that it is generated by three main areas of expertise:

• buildings with a wide range of concrete solutions for the construction of individual houses and collective buildings (concrete blocks, beams, floors, window sills, etc.) which represents 45% of turnover;
• exterior layout: terraces, paving stones, copings, for 30%;
• and public works (roads, urban development, sanitation and dry networks) up to 20%.

With 51 sites spread over France (and 2 in Belgium), Alkern, managed since early 2020 by Xavier Janin, produces 100% locally and now claims, for example, the manufacture of more than 2 concrete blocks per second.

This local production and the densified network of Alkern factories are also accompanied by significant R&D. A department that focuses in particular on reducing its environmental impact, while providing solutions to major land use planning problems (thermal performance of buildings, management of runoff, reduction of urban heat islands, etc.).

Xavier Janin, president of Alkern for 1 year, specifies: “We have the particularity of being able to intervene throughout the entire decision-making chain: from design to delivery on site. We have 53 factories and design offices, which allow us, upstream of projects, to assist project managers and project owners in sizing our offers for their projects and their needs. "

Proximity, the ALKERN credo

The precast concrete market requires close proximity to customers in order to best meet regional expectations (formats, colors, regulations, etc.) and provide appropriate technical assistance. Thanks to its particularly homogeneous industrial network, the Alkern Group perfectly meets the requirements of all its customers by offering them wide ranges of products, wherever they are located throughout the country. The commercial and administrative structures, decentralized in the regions, promote and strengthen direct relations between the production site and the customer, thus creating a real guarantee of simplicity and efficiency in the partnerships established.

2020: Review of an extraordinary year

After a dynamic start in 2020, the momentum of the first months was abruptly stopped by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alkern was able to react quickly, following the sudden shutdown of activity and organize itself to resume deliveries, at the request of its customers, within a week.

In terms of activity, the interest of confined households for their exterior has resulted in a notable growth in Amex activity at Alkern (+ 20% between June and December 2020 versus 2019). The catching up of the stopped projects and the implementation of simpler sanitary protocols on the sites of individual houses also enabled Alkern to achieve a 10% growth in its building activity, over the same period. On the other hand, the drop in the number of building permits in the second half of the year is a warning. Finally, the public works business suffered from the postponement of the municipal elections, the postponement of construction sites and the low level of calls for tenders, resulting in a 2% drop in activity at the end of the year.

At the same time, faced with this exceptional situation, 2020 has also been a modernization accelerator with the implementation of new ways of working (remote meeting tool, digitalization of certain processes) and a sales organization closer to customers.

In short, Alkern was able to cope with a complicated 2020 and made it possible to launch structuring projects for the company.

Xavier Janin to specify: “During the first confinement, we stopped all our activities, like the majority of construction workers. However, as of March 24, we were able to deliver to our customers with strict sanitary measures and we were able, subsequently, to respond to the demand for remediation of sites that had been put on standby. From an organization and management point of view, the Covid-19 crisis has been a real decision-maker. The fact of having worked in an unstable and unpredictable environment has indeed led us to set up daily points to make decisions very quickly. It forced us to rethink the way we work. The digital shift has been taken within our organization, where we were not aware of our limits before the travel restrictions imposed by Covid-19. These technologies have now become standards for our meetings. We have thus rewritten our strategy: the modernization of the company, the intensification of the prescription of our products, more environmentally friendly R&D and the pursuit of our external growth, are now the subjects that mobilize us ”.

Alkern 2020 environmental performance indicators

Alkern has a proactive and sustained environmental policy which will be further strengthened over the next few years. Through the indicators detailed below, Alkern monitors its environmental impact and highlights the advantages of the concrete material:

Decarbonization of buildings

Thus, thanks to the use of Alkern rectified blocks instead of traditional blocks; the carbon impact saving represents the equivalent of 28 million kilometers traveled by car in 2020. Likewise, we should mention the replacement of products of petrochemical origin (PSE) by 100% mineral foam (Airium® partnership), which enabled the saving of some 5.525 m3 of EPS, the average volume of a 20-storey building.

Products forming part of the circular economy

Likewise, the use of recycled raw materials (replacement of aggregates by crushed scallops, for example), is the source of savings of 2,2 tonnes of aggregates. Just like the reuse of pallets which allows to preserve 37 m300 of wood or the recycling of rock wool waste which reached 3 tons last year.

Water resource management

The management of water resources is another axis of the environmental policy of the Alkern group. Thus, the reduction in water consumption by the use of thin joint blocks vs traditional blocks has saved the equivalent of 4 Olympic swimming pools. Another ecological aspect of the future is the reduction in soil waterproofing: indeed, thanks to the O 'range and its 5 drainage references, Alkern has developed some 78.385 m2 of permeable surfaces (i.e. 13 football pitches). Finally, it should be noted that the storage of rainwater by Hydrocyl (intended for the construction of reservoir pavements) made it possible to create the storage of 1.400 m3 of rainwater.

RE2020 Alkern ready: focus on environmental performance for better insulated buildings with lower carbon impact

Alkern, and its R&D teams, have been working for a long time on the thermal and low carbon performance of its products and has thus launched a whole range of rectified and mainly insulated concrete blocks. These blocks with a thermal resistance between 0,3 and 2,14 m2.K / W meet the challenges of RE2020 for single-family homes. For collective buildings and the issue of thermal bridging treatment, Alkern launched in 2020 the R + MUR system, an economical low-carbon wall solution with a carbon footprint between -30 and -70% lower than current standard solutions.

Alkern's commitment to improving the carbon impact of its construction solutions remains a priority. Thus in 2020, € 2 million were invested on the Izeaux (38) and Mouy (77) sites, on the one hand in the integration of a grinding machine for the manufacture of thin joint blocks, on the other hand in a block production line incorporating 100% Airium® mineral foam, making it possible to offer a 100% recyclable block, without a sorting step.

Objective: ISO 14001 certification for all sites by 2024

Beyond the certification of all of its ISO 14001 sites for 2024, Alkern commits this year to ensuring that each of its 51 French sites fully embraces one of these objectives: reduction of the consumption of raw materials, reduction of energy consumption, reduction of water consumption, reduction of waste production and reduction of the local impact of operations.

In this regard Xavier Janin confirms: “With this more environmentally friendly R&D, we will also respond to new environmental regulations. Obviously, the buildings of tomorrow will be more virtuous and emit less CO2. Reducing the carbon impact of both our manufacturing processes and our products is at the heart of our concerns. We are fortunate to have already with precast concrete blocks one of the lowest carbon solutions on the market, but we are working to launch even more virtuous solutions to stay one step ahead of alternative constructive solutions. "

The growth levers to support this strategy:

A new digital showcase for individuals and professionals

Digital, during containment, experienced a significant boom, and Alkern decided to take the turn of these tools, both for its BtoB customers, its partners (distribution networks and installers / installers), and for BtoC. Alkern is therefore launching an e-business initiative in 2021 to provide more support and answers to its customers.

The first step is the launch, on March 1, of the new Alkern website, a new digital showcase presenting the entire offer.

More modern, developed in responsive design, the new Alkern website presents all the products manufactured by Alkern, and also provides visitors with educational and useful content for the choice of products and their implementation.

The leading independent manufacturer of precast concrete products in France, Alkern employs over 1.000 people and generates sales of over 200 million euros. The Group relies on some fifty concrete product production sites with a presence in the building, landscaping and public works sectors.