The Concrete Masonry Checkoff (CMC) Board will cap its third year confirming timely release or build out of charter research, education and promotion support assets by staff, regional advisory councils and outside consultant/contractors. Directors intend to keep that a familiar refrain in annual reports to investors—the producers who fund the Checkoff by remitting 1 cent per 8-in. equivalent concrete masonry unit sold for building applications.
Year three deliverables have enjoyed tailwind from the Q4 2024 Beauty of Block portal and campaign debut. It ushered this spring’s Beauty of Block Learning Hub launch, followed by announcement of an American Institute of Architects Innovation Partner agreement, plus design professional outreach on AIA, Architectural Record and Architect platforms. Concurrently, CMC staff and board members have recruited technical directors (note sidebar) and consultants to the Block Design Collective (BDC), a free-of-charge service hosted at www.beautyofblock.com and set for a late-October launch.
“The Block Design Collective, Learning Hub and Beauty of Block are closely connected,” says CMC CEO Kim Spahn. “Together, they provide most everything architectural, engineering and construction professionals need to design and bid concrete masonry walls.”
STARS ALIGN
October has proved CMC’s most consequential month. In 2018, it saw the Concrete Masonry Products Research, Education and Promotion Act signed into law. Three years later, the U.S. Department of Commerce chose a mid-October target for the opening of an industry referendum where building block producers voted to authorize formation of the CMC Board. The latest month of October milestone holds potential to grow into the most tangible Checkoff asset for investors’ public-facing teams.
The BDC positions concrete masonry interests to match design and engineering support programs under their counterparts in competing construction materials. Success will hinge on the technical directors, one each for the CMC Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Central and West Regions. As the first point of contact for architects, engineers, contractors or project owners inquiring through the Beauty of Block BDC portal, they will stress the performance and aesthetic possibilities of building with gray or architectural CMU.
Portal inquiries will generate tickets for technical directors to sort, assign, track and address on routine design assistance matters. AEC professionals or building owners requiring a deeper dive or full project perspective will be referred to consultants serving the BDC under contract terms and pre-determined fee structures. Consultants enlisted to date have design or engineering credentials for 48 states.
Between technical directors and outside service providers, the BDC will offer general guidance related to code references and interpretation, constructability, best practices, and aesthetic evaluation. Collective teams will likewise support inquiries involving structural analysis; detail and specification reviews; fire and/or sound rating parameters and compliance; moisture management; energy code compliance; sustainability and carbon accounting data; and, cost estimating based on local product and labor rates.
Technical directors and consultants are especially tasked with a) proactively identifying opportunities to enhance the use of concrete masonry on projects they assist; and b) recognizing conditions where CMU designs can be optimized for better efficiency or where the expanded use of gray or architectural block can add value in the areas of performance, durability or cost-efficiency.
The ticket system will compel directors and consultants to watch the clock. The CMC Board has funded the BDC on the premise that nearly all portal inquiries have initial responses in 24 hours, with service delivery windows typically measured in a few days—excepting projects where full design assistance is requested. Checkoff officials messaged spontaneity in technical director and consultant recruitment, noting: “Timeliness is a key metric that will be used to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of our services.”
In monthly BDC key performance indicator reports, technical directors will detail inquiry turnaround times, volume of AEC or project owner interactions, plus number of projects assisted or influenced through in-house or consultant channels.
Pilot BDC measures have included technical director assistance on an education facility budgeted in the $40 million range, along with guidance for a national account-style owner who adopted a concrete block wall spec for a large quantity of small utility buildings planned across multiple states. The CMC Board envisions more typical BDC-channeled projects in the $5 million to $10 million range.
CMU INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT
The BDC premier extends CMC deliverables since national and regional project funding began in 2024, a year after investors began Checkoff collections. The Beauty of Block campaign brought the namesake online portal along with digital marketing assets. The site frames concrete block specifications in Style, Savings, Safety, Sustainability and Strength terms, and highlights CMU wall characteristics beyond their most commonly perceived functions of bearing gravity and wind loads.
The portal spawned the Beauty of Block Learning Hub, which premiered with online education offerings under Core Performance, Embodied Carbon and Resiliency Series. CMC then finalized the AIA partnership, a critical step in building rapport with design professionals central to wall specification decisions in the majority of projects to which the BDC is ideally suited.
AIA officials credit CMC for “innovation and leadership in the concrete masonry industry” and sharing the Institute’s commitment “to driving a more sustainable and resilient built environment across the United States [and] redefining the impact of exceptional design.” As an AIA Innovation Partner, moreover, CMC offers “architects research and educational resources for better material selection, enabling smarter, environmentally friendly construction.”
AIA collaboration, Block Design Collaborative ramp up and debut, coupled with Learning Hub and Beauty of Block launches, reinforce a 2025 summary Kim Spahn has in mind for the CMC Board and investors: “We’re firing on all cylinders.”
TECHNICAL DIRECTORS: ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS + ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE
As the Block Design Collective template took shape in 2024, the CMC Board approved this year’s recruitment of technical directors dedicated to the five Checkoff regions. The four recruits through September bring a broad range of experience in building and construction, plus solid academic credentials.
Charter Technical Director Tino Kalayil, P.E. joined the CMC in late 2024 and will oversee BDC activities in the Midwest Region. He arrived after tours as a senior project engineer in the Milwaukee office of engineering giant Thornton Tomasetti and Marquette University College of Engineering adjunct professor.
Kalayil’s Northeast Region counterpart, Charles Rotondo, was appointed in early 2025. A University of Maryland accounting graduate, he brings the BDC unique perspective from work in a United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America apprenticeship program and product specifications consulting for Metro New York design professionals.
At mid-year, Texas A&M University-trained civil engineer Lauren Kennedy joined CMC staff as Central Region technical director. Prior to returning to the Lone Star State, she held positions in the Washington, D.C. office of Kiewit and Federal Aviation Administration program management.
Most recently, the CMC enlisted Irene Li as technical director for the West Region, where she will serve clients addressing such challenges as climate change impacts, plus seismic activity and wildfire exposure. She brings insights from tours as Thornton Tomasetti project engineer and SGH associate project consultant – Structure. Li holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Cornell University and Master of Science in Structural Engineering from Stanford University.
CMC CEO Kim Spahn anticipates appointment of the fifth technical director, overseeing Southeast Region activities, by the Block Design Collective launch.