Annual Report 2018

Urbanization is characterized by greater densification, more high-rise buildings, larger building complexes, and growing demand for infrastructure services.

Densification is increasing the requirements that buildings have to satisfy, and a growing number of structures is becoming technically and environmentally obsolete. Sika has the solutions to extend buildings’ service lives.

Major cities are going vertical. This is the only way to create space for the growing number of people being drawn to urban living. The Hudson Yards project in Manhattan illustrates perfectly the opportunities provided by densification and the challenges associated with it.

In the future, private transport in urban areas will be characterized by decarbonization, deprivatization, and intelligent networking. That means light, comfortable vehicles with more electrification components. Sika is helping to drive this trend with structural and heat-conductive adhesives and products for damping and reinforcing body construction.

Every morning, millions of people travel into the centers of the world’s major cities, and every evening they return home. The number of commuters continues to rise with increasing urbanization. Sika has the solutions to adapt traffic infrastructure to the growing demands placed on it.

In 1990, 26% of China’s population lived in cities. At the end of 2017, this figure had jumped to 60%. This went hand in hand with an increase in not only density and prosperity for the population, but also in the number of car owners. Experts estimate that China already has a shortfall of 50 million parking spaces, resulting in long queues and streets choked with parked vehicles. The government has reacted accordingly by issuing new regulations for new builds. Sika China successfully launched a tailored solution for the efficient construction of low-maintenance, safe car parks.

Skyscraper construction demands perfect concrete that delivers maximum strength, is efficient to process, and emits minimum emissions. To ensure that the right quantities of consistently highquality concrete are available on city-center construction sites whenever they are needed, Sika experts are assisting ready-mix concrete suppliers with their in-depth knowledge and innovative additives.

All around the world, Sika’s solutions are helping raise building standards in fast-growing urban areas. More importantly: they make living together in increasingly dense areas in numerous different ways possible. Top-quality products for construction, civil engineering, infrastructure projects, and vehicle manufacturing are only one part of the Sika solution. Innovations, technical advice, and training both before and during the construction phase as well as the focus on people-, environment-, and budget-friendly applications – that is what stands out about Sika. Finally, it’s all down to Sika’s dedicated employees who work with customers to seek the best possible solutions each and every day. Let them tell you how.