During the year, Eurobitume experts helped promote the efficient, safe use of bitumen in Europe by sharing their knowledge of the European bitumen industry, current and future challenges and the work we do on behalf of our members at events in Europe and further afield.
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Czech Republic Asphalt Pavements Conference, AV’19, and 17th Colloquium Asphalt, Bitumen and Pavements Conference in Slovenia - November
Eurobitume President Markus Spiegl took advantage of two excellent opportunities to boost our profile in Eastern Europe when he provided the voice of the European bitumen industry as a guest speaker at national conferences in the Czech Republic and Slovenia.
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Ibero-Latin American Asphalt Congress – Mexico, November
Eurobitume’s Anja Sörensen was a guest speaker at the 20th CILA (Ibero-Latin American Asphalt Congress) in Guadalajara, Mexico. She took advantage of this opportunity to share with a wider geographic audience our European experiences and best practices, provide the European perspective on current and future challenges for our industries, and demonstrate our position as the voice of European bitumen industry.
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MPA Health & Safety Awards – London, November
At the MPA (Mineral Products Association) Health & Safety Conference and Awards, world-record breaking mountaineer and adventurer Jake Meyer (left) presented the Eurobitume UK Trophy for bitumen, asphalt, contract surfacing to FM Conway Surfacing Director, Paul Padfield, for FM Conway’s success in improving the health and safety of its workforce.
As a member of the ERF Executive Committee, our Director General is helping shape the future of road transport in Europe. Siobhan McKelvey is providing an important voice for the bitumen industry in Europe within the European Commission’s (EC)’s CCAM (Cooperative, Connected, Automated and autonomous Mobility) Single Platform - which advises and supports the EC regarding the open road testing of potential road infrastructure adaptations for connected and automated vehicles.
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Senior representatives of Eurobitume and SITEB, the Italian roads and bitumen association, re-established a good relationship and explored possible future collaboration opportunities at a very successful meeting in Rome in May.
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Eurobitume-SITEB meeting attendees (L-R):
Clemente Lucangeli - Gruppo API
Michele Turrini – Ammann & President SITEB
Siobhan McKelvey – Director General Eurobitume
Maria Rita Valentinetti - Eni
Carlo Giavarini - SITEB
Massimo Varani – Eni
Sergio Bovo - Alma Petroli
Eurobitume Deutschland is a member of FGSV, the German Road and Transportation Research Association, and took part in their biennial Asphalt Pavement Conference, in Münster/Westphalia. With 410 participants from academia, the public and private sectors in seven European countries, the event included 13 presentations including the testing and characterisation of bituminous binders, recycling and HSE, digitalisation and developments in FGSV’s technical regulations.
Copyright FGSV
Eurobitume and our Director General Siobhan McKelvey were the focus of an extensive four-page feature in the May 2019 issue of Asphalt Pro magazine, read by 6,500 asphalt producers, contractors, designers and suppliers in North America. In the interview, Siobhan explained Eurobitume’s vision and mission, and summarised key activities we undertake on behalf of members to create a positive environment for sustained bitumen demand.
Local authority highway engineers and road industry professionals from across the UK attended the Asphalt Industry Alliance’s (AIA)’s Sharing Best Practice event, ‘The route to the roads of the future’, jointly organised by AIA partners Eurobitume UK and the Mineral Products Association. Delegates heard presentations by experts including Eurobitume’s Senior Technical Advisor Mike Southern, who spoke about sustainability assessment within the asphalt industry.
Eurobitume Deutschland provides the voice for bitumen on German-language website www.blickpunkt-oel.de, which highlights the importance now and in the future of petroleum products, including bitumen.
Eurobitume Deutschland is a member of Pro Mobilität Initiative für Verkehrsinfrastruktur e.V. (Pro Mobility Initiative for Transport Infrastructure) in Germany and provided a strong voice for the bitumen industry at the initiative’s workshop on political priorities in Berlin, which covered a number of important topics including the need for increased budgets for road construction and maintenance.
As a member of IDRRIM (the French Institute of Roads, Streets and Infrastructure for Mobility), Eurobitume France supports ONR and the production of the 3rd ONR report, which contains objective information about the state of road networks in France and the resources devoted to their maintenance.
Eurobitume UK is the co-sponsor of the Asphalt Industry Alliance’s Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey, which for the past 24 years has provided a snapshot of the general condition of the local road network in England and Wales – see 2019 ALARM report.
The widespread media coverage of these findings – which have tracked any improvement or deterioration in road condition across the local road network - has been instrumental in helping secure much-needed additional funding for road maintenance and the adoption of a more efficient and cost-effective asset management approach to road maintenance.
Eurobitume UK supports the APPG for Better Roads, which promotes a better understanding of the importance of the highway network and the safety, environmental, economic and social case for a properly maintained sustainable network across the UK among UK parliamentarians.
