In the city of Casale Monferrato – where cement production began in Italy and Buzzi Unicem still has its headquarters – an entire district known as Ronzone grew up around the cement industry, and for one hundred years identified itself with the many cement companies present. One of these companies was F.lli Bargero SpA, which was founded in 1912 and acquired by Buzzi Unicem at the beginning of the 1980s, becoming a grinding center in the process. Having been abandoned for many years, the area is now undergoing a program of rehabilitation and transformation. The old cement plants will be replaced by a 15,000 m2 park, modern buildings for public use and several residential complexes. An equally important aspect of the project is the reclamation of the entire area, which will involve a small portion of the roofs that contain cement-asbestos slabs, removing two large 1000 m3 fuel tanks, recycling all the ferrous material, separating the wood and plastic, and lastly crushing on site all the construction material, mainly concrete and bricks but most of which will be reused in the new construction works.
Slated for completion at the end of March, these projects will involve a total surface area of 49,890 m2, with a total volume of approximately 150,000 m3 to be demolished. Buzzi Unicem, which is actually participating in the reclamation initiative, continues to uphold its social responsibility toward the local community by pledging to return the industrial site to its original condition.