Reid has launched the ReidBar™ TX Coupler, a mechanical reinforcing bar splice system designed to cut installation time and improve constructability on bridge projects while meeting some of Australia’s strictest state road authority specifications. The coupler is engineered for high-strength threaded bar connections, enabling faster bar fixing, reduced congestion at pier and abutment zones, and simplified detailing for heavily reinforced bridge decks. For civil contractors and designers, the system offers a standardised, certifiable alternative to lap splices and site welding, with clear compliance pathways for major infrastructure works.

Overbury has installed Adaptavate’s bio-based Breathaboard wallboard at Legal & General’s new London headquarters at 10 Coleman Street, providing a carbon‑storing, compostable alternative to conventional gypsum board. The pilot sits within a deep refurbishment that retains around 95% of the existing structure and integrates low‑carbon systems such as air source heat pumps, supporting L&G’s target of operational Net Zero across its offices by 2030. Adaptavate reports more than 100 projects registered and over £19m in demand via letters of intent and offtake agreements, signalling strong market interest in carbon‑negative fit‑out materials.

Sodium-ion batteries are emerging as a mass-market option for grid-scale storage and lower-cost urban EVs, with CATL already selling sodium-ion passenger vehicles and utility systems exceeding 1 GWh, but they do not displace lithium in high-energy-density applications. Because sodium is geologically ubiquitous—essentially salt at 2.3% of the crust—the bottleneck moves from scarce deposits like Greenbushes and the Lithium Triangle to midstream processing and gigafactory-scale manufacturing. China now controls over 90% of installed and announced sodium-ion manufacturing capacity, deepening Western dependence despite abundant raw sodium.