DENVER, Colo. (May 15, 2025) — To aggressively scale demand for local producers, the Concrete Masonry Checkoff (CMC) unveiled a five-year roadmap aimed at boosting industry-wide concrete block usage by 50 million total by 2031.
“While not one-size-fits-all, the new plan aligns the industry across all programs for efficient, effective strategies that focus on regional impacts,” said Kim Spahn, CEO of CMC. “Hitting this 50-million-block milestone is about providing designers, architects, and engineers with a reliable, locally sourced material that delivers unmatched structural and aesthetic flexibility on any job site, no matter how complex the blueprint.”
The plan is built on strategic investments across education, marketing and codes that drive opportunity to the Block Design Collective (BDC), a virtual destination where architects, engineers and contractors (AECs) can access free CMU project support and design assistance. Through BlockDesign.org, the BDC delivers climate-specific solutions to design challenges across the country. Regional technical directors and expert consultants collaborate with designers to boost structural performance and hit sustainability goals — all within budget.
To achieve its volume targets, CMC is aggressively pursuing specific high-opportunity sectors:
- K-12 education: Driving masonry specifications in public school construction.
- Mid-sized warehouses: Dominating the supply chain for facilities under 100,000 square feet.
- Coastal housing: Launching single-family residential initiatives in Florida before scaling coast-to-coast.
“Success in this industry comes down to helping teams build smarter and faster,” said Spahn. “As we focus our targets on schools, mid-sized warehouses, and coastal residential builds, the combination of mass regional block availability and the Block Design Collective platform delivers a rare combination: total architectural freedom and bulletproof budget flexibility for the modern builder.”
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ABOUT THE CONCRETE MASONRY CHECKOFF
The Concrete Masonry Checkoff (CMC) is an industry-funded initiative to support education, research and promotion of manufactured concrete masonry units in the United States. The Concrete Checkoff Program is the first-ever Checkoff program at the Department of Commerce. For more information, visit https://www.concretemasonrycheckoff.org/