Lafarge to set up research centre

French cement major Lafarge Group's research arm and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) will soon join hands to conduct research programmes on concrete. The cement major's research arm, Lafarge Research Centre, and IIT-M last year signed an MoU, under which the IIT's civil engineering department set up a laboratory to carry out joint research programmes. The research project will test the durability of concrete as a building material in different climatic conditions.