Construction composition

A construction composition comprising

• a) a cementitious binder comprising one or more calcium silicate mineral phases and one or more calcium aluminate mineral phases;
• b) optionally, an extraneous aluminate source;
• c) a sulfate source;
• d) an ettringite formation controller comprising (i) glyoxylic acid, a glyoxylic acid salt and/or a glyoxylic acid derivative;
• and (ii) at least one of a borate source and a carbonate source, wherein the carbonate source is selected from inorganic carbonates having an aqueous solubility of 0.1 g·L−1 or more at 25° C., organic carbonates, and mixtures thereof;
• and
• e) a polyol in an amount of 0.2 to 2.5 wt.-%, relative to the amount of cementitious binder a);
• wherein the composition contains 0.05 to 0.2 mol of total available aluminate, calculated as Al(OH)4−, from the calcium aluminate mineral phases plus the optional extraneous aluminate source, per 100 g of cementitious binder a);
• and the molar ratio of total available aluminate to sulfate is 0.4 to 2.0.