"Interpretation and Implementation of National standards: Sand for Construction and Gravel and Pebbles for construction" compiled by the China Aggregates Association and Beijing University of Architecture and Architecture has recently been officially published. The book comprehensively introduces the basic standards of the aggregates products, the current status of the industry and the future development direction, compares the technical changes of the relevant clauses before and after the revision, and interprets the key clauses of the two national standards.

Aggregates (crushed rock, sand and gravel) is the largest, indispensable, and irreplaceable raw material for infrastructure construction such as buildings, roads, and bridges, accounting for about 75% of the concrete mass. The quality of aggregate directly affects the quality of construction projects, which is related to the national economy and the people's livelihood. The annual production of China’s sand and gravel for construction is about 20 billion tons.

In 2022, China's economic was affected by multiple unexpected factors at home and abroad, such as the Covid-19 epidemic, and the overall economic operation of the aggregates industry was characterized by "weakened demand and lower production and price". The national output was 17.42 billion tons, down 11.5% from 2021.

With the strengthening of ecological environment protection and the rapid development of engineering construction, the aggregates industry faced problems like supply and demand imbalance and high prices, which aroused great attention from government departments and widespread concern from all walks of life. In 2011, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the National Standards Management Committee issued GB/T 14684-2011 "Sand for Construction" and GB/T 14685-2011 "Pebbles and Crushed Stones for Construction", which have been implemented since 2012. It has played an active role in regulating the development of our country's sand and gravel industry.

However, as China’s infrastructure construction has developed fast in the past ten years, the sand and gravel in many rivers are facing depletion. In order to effectively implement the construction of national ecological civilization and solve the practical problem of the depletion of natural sand and gravel resources, vigorously developing and promoting the application of machine-made sand and gravel has become the only way for the green, low-carbon, safe and high-quality development of the sand and gravel industry under the new situation. However, for many years, problems such as inconsistent performance indicators of machine-made sand and gravel and limited source channels have hindered the transformation, upgrading and green development of the sand and gravel industry. Some clauses in GB/T 14684-2011 "Sand for Construction" and GB/T 14685-2011 "Pebble and Gravel for Construction" are no longer suitable for the current status of engineering practice.

The purpose of the revision of the two national standards and the publish of the interpretation and implementation of the two standards is to improve the technical indicators of sand and gravel for construction, keep up with the needs of engineering technology development, adapt to changes in sand and gravel sources, especially meet the needs of high-performance concrete for high-quality sand and gravel aggregates. What’s more, it is to improve the level of production technology, product quality and supply level of the industry, meet the needs of our country's infrastructure construction, ensure the quality of construction projects, and provide solid technical support for the healthy, orderly and high-quality development of the sand and gravel industry , implement the national policy of energy conservation and emission reduction and the construction of "zero waste city", and contribute to the high-quality development of the country.

From 2019, China Aggregates Association, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture and other units are jointly carried out the revision of the national standards "Sand for Construction" and "Pebbles and Crushed Stones for Construction". On April 15, 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China issued Announcement No. 6 of 2022, "Announcement on Approving the Release of 245 Recommended National Standards and 2 National Standard Amendments", approved and announced the newly revised GB/T 14684-2022 "Sand for Construction" and GB/T 14685-2022 "Gravels and Pebbles for Construction", both of which were officially implemented on November 1, 2022.