BUILD Magazine Celebrates 10 Years of Lightweight Construction Innovation | Leca
From railway infrastructure and soft soil engineering to circular construction and energy-efficient buildings, BUILD Magazine marks its 10th anniversary by showcasing the projects, people and innovations shaping the future of construction.
10 Years of Sharing Knowledge in Lightweight Construction
For ten years, BUILD Magazine by Leca® has been bringing together real projects, technical insights and expert perspectives from across the construction industry. Published twice a year since 2016, the magazine has become a platform for sharing practical applications of LWA in housing, infrastructure and water management.
The latest edition celebrates this milestone by looking both forward and back, highlighting innovative projects from across Europe while reflecting on a decade of engineering solutions designed to address some of construction's most demanding challenges.
Infrastructure Solutions for Complex Ground Conditions
Infrastructure projects featured in this edition demonstrate how lightweight aggregate solutions can improve performance in challenging environments.
The issue explores projects including:
- The Fornebu Metro Station in Oslo, where 35,000 m³ of Leca® Lightweight Aggregate is being used to reduce earth pressure around underground structures.
- The Salford Rise elevated bridge development in Manchester, where lightweight fill helped minimise settlement risks and reduce structural loads on bridge abutments.
- A soft soil road project in Denmark, where Leca® Lightweight Aggregate provided a resource-efficient alternative to extensive excavation and reconstruction.
- New railway stabling tracks in Gothenburg, Sweden, showcasing both the performance and circular potential of reused lightweight aggregate through the Leca® Tur&Retur concept.
These projects highlight how reducing dead loads, improving stability and enabling efficient installation can contribute to more resilient and sustainable infrastructure.
Advancing Circular Construction
Circularity remains one of the construction industry's biggest opportunities, and challenges.
This edition features an interview with Amanda Borneke, Specialist in Circular Economy at Sweco Sweden, who explores how reuse can deliver business value while helping address material availability and resource efficiency. The issue also celebrates five years of Leca® Tur&Retur, an initiative that enables lightweight aggregate recovered from demolition projects to be reused instead of sent to landfill.
The growing adoption of reuse demonstrates that circular construction is moving from ambition to implementation, even in large and technically demanding projects.
Innovation in Housing and Building Construction
The magazine also presents innovative applications in residential and refurbishment projects.
Among the featured projects are:
- A hybrid lightweight roof in Helsinki, designed to deliver energy efficiency and moisture management in demanding Nordic conditions.
- A new hotel in Porto's historic centre, where Leca® lightweight concretes were used to provide thermal and acoustic performance while accommodating the constraints of heritage renovation.
These projects demonstrate how lightweight construction solutions can support both architectural flexibility and long-term building performance.
Full-Scale Railway Testing at Up to 400 km/h
One of the highlights of this edition is an exclusive feature on the PEDLER project (Performance and Durability of LECA Filling in Railway Embankments).
Conducted at the CEDEX Track Box in Madrid, Europe's only full-scale railway testing facility of its kind, the project subjected Leca® Lightweight Aggregate to static, dynamic and fatigue testing under conditions representative of high-speed rail traffic at speeds of up to 400 km/h.
The results demonstrated performance comparable to conventional embankment solutions while offering the advantages associated with significantly lower density and reduced loads on underlying soils.
Looking Ahead
Over the past decade, BUILD Magazine has documented how lightweight solutions can help solve real-world construction challenges across Europe.
As the industry continues to evolve, the need for sustainable construction, resource-efficient infrastructure, circular materials and innovative lightweight solutions will only become more important.
BUILD Magazine's tenth anniversary is not simply a celebration of the past, it is a reminder that sharing knowledge, practical experience and proven solutions remains essential for building the future.
Explore the latest edition of BUILD Magazine and discover ten years of stories, projects and solutions that continue to shape construction across housing, infrastructure and water management.
