Displaying items by tag: UK

UK: Precast concrete producer FP McCann plans to invest €105m in expansions and upgrades to its plants. The plans include the launch of multiple new product lines, including a new decorative paving range, due for launch in September 2024. Another new line will build drainage pipes, complementing its portfolio of concrete products for below-ground applications. Upgrades include the installation of an additional bagging line at a mortars plant. Local press has reported that a total of 100 new jobs will be created as a result.

FP McCann said “We constantly take on board customer feedback, and the investment in these new products and services is driven by their needs. FP McCann’s unique multi-product load offering has been a fantastic success. Builders’ merchants no longer have to coordinate multiple deliveries of single product loads, each often carrying a part-load surcharge. With the introduction of our new decorative paving range, we can now offer up to eight different products on a single load, and as more products come online we will expand this service further.”

UK: Low Carbon Materials has participated in a trial project to build roads with lower embodied CO₂ emissions. The company supplied its ACLA carbon-negative aggregate for use in repairs to the M11 in Essex. National Highways has reported that CRH subsidiary Tarmac and Sweden-based construction firm Skanska also collaborated in the project.

National Highways’ research, development and innovation director Joanna White said "Solutions like this could have a real impact on our road to net zero carbon, so we are delighted that we have been able to accelerate the development of the product and get it on one of our roads for testing.”

UK: Ramboll has established its Sustainability Leadership Group to spearhead the decarbonisation strategy for UK construction. The team aims to be ‘powerhouse’ of cross-disciplinary expertise to support clients at every stage of their sustainability journey, through setting and achieving ambitious goals for their construction projects. Lora Brill will serve as the group’s Head of Sustainability for Buildings, while Austen Bates and Brogan MacDonald will serve as Sustainability Leads for Building Services and Building Structures, respectively, alongside Jac Yarwood as Head of Sustainable Solutions.

Lora Brill said, "I’m excited to put in place this exceptionally talented team that brings structural engineering, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering and sustainability consultancy together to lead Ramboll’s incredible breadth and depth of technical expertise on sustainability in building design and engineering. The team will continue to drive more engagements in key industry initiatives like ConcreteZero and SteelZero, and lead our own such as CO2mpare, which transparently shares building projects carbon data. We are committed to being the Partner for Sustainable Change and this leadership team is just one more step in ensuring that we challenge current thinking and champion innovative approaches to sustainability."

ConcreteZero is an emissions measuring and reporting association for concrete jointly founded by Ramboll in mid-2022.

UK: Holcim has completed its acquisition of rail ballast recycling specialist Land Recovery. Land Recovery produces raw materials for use in ready-mix concrete, precast concrete and other building materials from recycled rail ballast. Holcim says that the acquisition advances its own aim of recycling 10Mt of construction-demolition materials (CDM) in 2024. In 2023, Land Recovery recycled 300,000t of CDM. It employs 85 people across the UK.

UK: Saint-Gobain Construction Chemicals has won Tarmac's 2023 Innovation Challenge with its CHRYSO Quad Lab, a digital admixture optimisation tool. CHRYSO Quad Lab analyses sand prior to mixing, aiding in the reduction of the cement content of concrete.

Tarmac’s procurement manager, capex and sustainability, Mark Lewis said "Circularity within the materials industry is crucial to reaching net zero and reducing our impact on the environment. To achieve our sustainability ambitions, we know that collaborating with our suppliers is key to developing innovative new ideas and solutions.”

UK: Heidelberg Materials UK has opened a new circular materials hub at its Appleford depot in Oxfordshire. The site will recycle construction waste for use in low-CO₂ building materials. The move advances the company’s strategy to conserve natural materials and support the circular economy.

Recycling managing director James Whitelaw said “Recycling, reusing and reducing the use of primary raw materials is crucial to reaching net zero. Our network of recycling hubs will allow us to provide the most sustainable products to our customers through circularity and innovation to enable building more with less.”

UK: CRH subsidiary Tarmac has partnered with sensors specialist Converge to launch predictive AI-enhanced sensors for use in concrete mix optimisation. The equipment can reduce reliance on traditional cube testing, helping to shorten construction timelines. The sensors are available to all Tarmac customers.

Tarmac ready-mix concrete head Andrew Campling said "This new partnership with Converge means we can offer even more innovations to customers as part of our lower carbon CEVO concrete brand. Alongside other solutions, including our new online carbon calculator and the easy-to-use CEVO rating system, we're providing our customers with the tools to help them reduce carbon on construction projects."

Converge CEO Raphael Scheps said "The pairing of CEVO with Converge's sensors and AI technology is a perfect match for concrete decarbonisation. By packaging our technology with Tarmac's low embodied carbon mixes, contractors can build sustainably with the confidence that they're getting all the performance they need. We're proud to be partnering with Tarmac to offer leading AI solutions to the construction industry."

UK: Recycling company Scott Bros plans to install a plant to produce low carbon concrete made from filter cake at its soil wash plant in Middlesbrough. The company has been working with Teesside University on a series of trials to find by how much it can reduce the amount of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) it is using in its concrete mixes. It has been researching how to use filter cake, a fine-grained clay, which it produces as a by-product from its two ‘urban quarries’ which convert construction and excavation waste into sand and aggregate. The silicate clay-rich filter cake, which has cementitious properties, is currently used as low value BS-certified pond lining material or inert engineering fill.

The €715,000 research project is being funded by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the UK’s innovation agency.

UK: The UK Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) has launched a competition for projects that promote the commercial adoption of reduced-CO₂ concrete. The competition aims to foster collaboration between concrete users and clean technology developers. It commands US$3.78m in total available funding from Innovate UK. Winning projects will claim full funding up to a total value of US$631,000. Applicants can participate by submitting a real world demonstration of their innovation or an equivalent approach on the Innovate UK website.

The competition is supported by the Concrete Commitment Cohort (CCC), a new alliance of UK concrete users that includes Anglian Water, the Environment Agency, Ferrovial Construction, HS2, JN Bentley, Laing O’Rourke, National Highways, Sellafield Sites, Transport for London, United Utilities and WSP.

UK: Recycl8 has completed its first large-scale commercial project in partnership with Breedon Group. The partners supplied R8 Mix reduced-CO₂ concrete for the installation of an industrial floor slab at Aurora Energy Services site in Inverness. R8 Mix concrete is produced using incinerator bottom ash and Breedon Group’s blended cement.

Recycl8 chief executive officer Mark Gillespie said "We are excited to be working with Aurora Energy Services. It is particularly gratifying for us to be carrying out our first large-scale commercial project with an organisation which is committed to supporting the energy sector transition to net zero, with a particular focus on the renewables sector. With our commitment to fostering a sustainable, circular-economy future for the construction industry by playing our part in lowering carbon emissions from concrete manufacture, we share the same values and synergies."