NRMCA Presents 2025 Concrete Innovation Award to Boston Sand & Gravel

NRMCA congratulates Jim Carreira (shown here at right with NRMCA's Frank Mruk) and his colleagues at Producer member Boston Sand & Gravel for earning the 2025 Concrete Innovation Award for One Milestone, a mixed use building in downtown Boston. The award was presented earlier this month at a Massachusetts Concrete & Aggregates Producers Association meeting held in Framingham, MA.

A research and development hub, One Milestone was celebrated for its use of advanced concrete technologies to reduce embodied carbon in a major mixed-use development while enhancing long-term durability. Boston Sand & Gravel supplied the concrete on this project. The project specification included an initial goal of 25% embodied carbon reduction relative to the NRMCA baseline. The building is a Boston-area higher education enterprise research campus consisting of 604,000 GSF, including 510,000 SF purpose-built research and development spaces.

The combined team of Arrowstreet, SGH, McNamara Salvia, Turner and Turner's Self-Perform Operations (Turner SPO), and Boston Sand & Gravel focused on the carbon calculation of the concrete mixes and challenged themselves to be tactical in reduction opportunities. Early alignment with McNamara Salvia and its willingness to proceed with a performance-based specification (vs. prescriptive) allowed for more creativity during preconstruction. In this stage of the project, multiple low-carbon concrete solutions were developed, approved and continually checked. The concrete design and ready mix approach is complete. The final calculation was based on approved mix design and actual quantities of concrete placed.

The construction of this project is being managed by a Turner/Janey/J&J joint venture. The project has ~28,000 cubic yards of concrete with ~18 unique mix designs. This motivated project team implemented multiple strategies and developed novel approaches, By leveraging early engagement, a 49% reduction in embodied carbon reduction was achieved, exceeding the project's initial goal of 25% relative to the NRMCA baseline.

NRMCA continues to promote the benefits of innovative concrete construction solutions. For more information, contact Senior Director, Building Innovations, Frank Mruk at fmruk@nrmca.org.