TCA continues to include a spot for a national update on our Annual Convention program and NRMCA is always gracious enough to provide a speaker for our event. We appreciated having John Loyer with us in February of 2019.  

 

TCA staff attended both the NRMCA Annual Convention and ConcreteWorks in 2019. TCA continues to participate in NRMCA’s social media program and regularly uses content from this monthly service for postings on our various social media platforms. 

  

TCA partnered with NRMCA on several events in 2019:

 

• In June, TCA hosted a 2-day meeting in Nashville for NRMCA’s Financial Performance Group (formerly the BAC Committee). Director Sparkman serves on this committee and spoke on behalf of this group at ConcreteWorks 2019. 

• In July, TCA participated with Gregg Lewis and other NRMCA staff to meet with the Tennessee Board of Regents Buildings Group to promote increased use of ICF construction on Tennessee’s college campuses. 

• In September, NRMCA’s Amanda Hult participated with Director Sparkman at TCA’s booth at the annual Tennessee Engineers Conference to help emphasize the many benefits of concrete pavements to the design community. 

• In November, TCA sponsored the ICF Training Class in Nashville and submitted the curriculum to the TN State Fire Marshall so that continuing education credit could be offered for Tennessee building officials who attend this or subsequent classes. 

 

Executive Director Sparkman also serves on the NRMCA Workforce Development Committee (WDC) and is leading one of the task groups (Partnering with Schools) developed by the committee. Director Sparkman attended the inaugural meeting for the new WDC in Kansas City, and continue to participate throughout 2019.

 

As part of our overall certification program, TCA again offered the NRMCA Certified Concrete Sales Professional classes in Nashville in 2019, taught by Executive Director Alan Sparkman, holding classes for all four modules with a total attendance of 47.  Director Sparkman also taught Modules Three and Four for NRMCA at the Silver Spring headquarters and taught Modules One and Two for NRMCA in Dallas, TX.

 

TCA held two sessions for the NRMCA Pervious Installer Certification in 2019, including a session at the World of Concrete. Director Sparkman was actively involved in the updating of the Pervious Installer textbook in 2018, working closely with Dr. Colin Lobo of NRMCA and continues to serve on the NRMCA Pervious Concrete Promotion Subcommittee.

 

TCA held two sessions for the new NRMCA Volumetric Operator certification in 2019 now required by TDOT for all state projects using volumetric mixers to produce concrete.

 

2019 also marked a significant milestone for the Tennessee Concrete Association as we completed the sale of our property located in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood of Nashville. TCA subsequently purchased a five-acre tract (still in metro Nashville) and initiated the process of constructing a new home for the association at this new site. 

 

TCA’s Board of Directors has approved the pursuit of full Living Building Challenge certification for our project. As perhaps the most rigorous sustainable design certification in the world this is no small undertaking for TCA. Thanks to our excellent working relationship with NRMCA, we found a willing partner to help us in our pursuit of this challenging goal. NRMCA sent staff (Frank Gordon & Tien Peng) and a video technician to TCA’s LBC Design Charrette that was held on August 1st in Nashville. 

 

Nearly 30 people attended this event to learn more about the Living Building Challenge and to begin the process of designing TCA’s project to meet all the requirements. The group included TCA’s design team, local building code officials and others with a keen interest in sustainable construction. Our design process is nearing the end of schematic design and the list of potential contractors has been winnowed down to two candidates - Skanska and DPR. Both groups will be presenting their proposals to the TCA Building Committee on December 20th (after the deadline for submission of this application) and our goal is to have a contractor selected and on board for the remainder of the design process. The current schedule calls for construction to begin in mid 2020, with completion by early 2021. If we can meet this schedule, the new TCA office has the opportunity to be the very first full LBC building in Tennessee and one of only about 40 in the United States. Stay tuned for our progress!

 

We value our relationship with NRMCA and look forward to continuing our work together as we strive to make the concrete industry better and more prosperous in the coming year!