Updates from the ICPI midyear meeting

The Interlocking Concrete Paver Institute (ICPI), held its summer meeting last week in Lake Tahoe. The meeting addressed a variety of topics pertaining to our industry. Below is a brief summary of the meeting’s key points.

ICPI is increasingly focused on trying to support member efforts in selling more concrete pavers for commercial applications. It is reasoned that member companies do a good job in marketing to homeowners, but they lack some of the resources or tools to impact commercial markets. The organization has an overall objective to increase the annual sales of concrete pavers in North America from around two sq ft per capita to four. In comparison, many European countries sell in excess of fifteen sq ft per capita.

Some of the key new initiatives to help members sell more pavers include the following:

· Expanded training programs for installers - The association will be offering two new training programs for paver installers in 2010. The first will be an advanced installer class that builds upon the original Certified Installer Program of which over 18,000 people have attended. This class will deal with greater technical aspects of paver installations and be available to those who have completed the basic installer certification. The other new training program will be a permeable interlocking concrete paver (PICP) installation class. Permeable pavers are identified as a potential growing market given their effective role as a component of stormwater systems. Permeable pavers can lessen the negative impact of development by reducing the flow of stormwater that would be generated in traditional paving systems. Both classes will be two days and will be taught by experienced concrete paver installers.

· New PICP Permeable Design Pro software - Developed through the efforts of the ICPI technical committee, this new software assists pavement designers in designing the right permeable pavement system given soil conditions, expected stormwater, and the use of other stormwater management technologies. Over 3,000 copies have been sold to date.

· The association has also initiated an effort to develop a national standard for the structural design of interlocking concrete pavements by the American Society of Civil Engineers group (ASCE).

· ICPI Foundation funds new curriculum for landscape architecture students -During the meeting the ICPI Foundation Trustees approved funding for the University of Georgia to create a web-based curriculum addressing the use, design, and construction of interlocking concrete pavers. The curriculum will also include permeable interlocking concrete pavers and their application to stormwater management. The web-based program is expected to be available to universities teaching landscape architecture across North America.

The next meeting of ICPI will be in February of 2010 in San Antonio in conjunction with NCMA meetings and the concrete show ICON. For more information about ICPI go to http://www.ICPI.org.

Sincerely,

Joe Bowen
President