The Interim Board of the SmartCrete CRC is pleased to announce the appointment of Warren South as Chief Executive Officer for the CRC.

Warren brings a wealth of technical domain experience in the research and development of concrete in Australia and New Zealand. In addition, he brings a strong existing network of industrial, academic and government relationships. Importantly, he offers a direct line of sight into issues within the concrete ecosystem and opportunities for value add.

Chair Elizabeth Taylor stated “We are delighted to welcome Warren. We look forward to working with him and our partners to operationalise innovations that address the problems, and seize the opportunities, identified by asset owners, industry organisations, SMEs, the supply chain, academics and our broader Australian community”.

Warren will join SmartCrete CRC in the middle of September and lead the consolidation of the central services function, initially supporting the “Fast Start” and Round 1 research projects.

Warren commented “SmartCrete CRC is an exciting new opportunity for the cement and concrete supply chain and leading research institutions to collaborate on research aimed at improving the sustainability and durability of concrete in infrastructure.

It provides an important vehicle for industry to address pressing research needs, assisted by the best Australian academic minds, to ensure that concrete can maintain its position in underpinning the Australian construction industry. I thank the Federal government in investing in this new venture as part of its Co-operative Research Centres program.

As incoming CEO, I look forward to engaging with a wide variety of industry and academic partners to ensure the vision of fully integrated product development and systems capability is achieved”.

Warren joins the SmartCrete CRC following 9 successful years as Director – Research and Technical Services with Cement Concrete and Aggregates Australia (CCAA).

SmartCrete CRC has the objective of step changing the concrete ecosystem through improvements in cost, productivity and sustainability.