This is UK Concrete

With COP16 (the Convention on Biological Diversity) taking place in Colombia, we’re reflecting on the how the mineral products industry is making positive contributions to nature in the UK. 🌱 Improving biodiversity and driving nature recovery is a vital part of our journey to net zero and the Mineral Products Association members have a long legacy of creating and managing new wildlife habitats and enhancing biodiversity at UK quarries. A commitment to at the restoration of quarry sites has created over 83 sq km of priority habitats with a further 110 sq km of land pledged to be restored. Read the full report on the MPA’s quarries and nature success story here: https://lnkd.in/ems8eBzx #biodiversity #naturerecovery

An exciting trial for low carbon concrete is taking place on the construction of HS2. The team working on HS2’s London tunnels has been awarded funding to trial calcined clay as an alternative to cement. The Skanska Costain STRABAG Joint Venture (SCS JV) is working alongside Arup TARMAC University of Leeds, and Sika as well as Expedition Engineering Ltd and the Mineral Products Association on the project. Data from the initial trial has found that heated clay, which has been extracted from the tunnelling activities, could be a viable alternative to Portland cement. Read more about the trial here: https://lnkd.in/ej_uECAF #concrete #HS2 #lowcarbon

Floating offshore wind (FOW) has the potential to be the biggest British industrial success story of the century. A new report by the joint Government-Industry Floating Offshore Wind Taskforce has found that the UK's FOW industry could employ 97,000 people by 2050 and contribute £47 billion to our economy. The floating bases can be constructed with concrete, and the UK’s concrete supply chain is well placed to support the expansion of FOW with its locally sourced materials. Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/e9m75P8Z #concrete #floatingoffshorewind #renewableenergy

CELEBRATING CEMENT! Today marks the bicentenary of Portland cement, invented by Joseph Aspdin and patented on 21 October 1824 – #cement is a truly revolutionary material that has literally shaped the modern world. Over the past two centuries, the ability of cement to bind together the ingredients of #concrete makes it essential for new homes, schools, hospitals, workplaces, roads, railways and ports, as well as the infrastructure that provides us with clean water, sanitation and low-carbon energy. However, this significant industrial milestone comes with fresh calls to the #UKGovernment to back the sector’s transition to #netzero manufacturing. We're concerned that the Government’s recent draft #IndustrialStrategy Green Paper risks missing an opportunity to deliver support for industries such as cement which are vital to the UK’s #infrastructure and #development pipeline. Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/eTPciuCK Read the document 'Portland Cement - 200 years of building for the future': https://lnkd.in/ercEjAuc This is UK Concrete The Concrete Centre MPA Precast Institute of Concrete Technology The Concrete Society GCCA – Global Cement and Concrete Association Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia david taylor Construction Products Association CEMBUREAU World Cement Association Aggregate Industries UK Breedon Group plc CEMCOR Ltd CEMEX UK Heidelberg Materials UK Tarmac #essentialmaterials #sustainablesolutions

200 years ago today, an Englishman changed construction in the UK and the world forever. Joseph Aspdin, a bricklayer, businessman, inventor, and stonemason was granted the patent for Portland cement on 21 October 1824. Over the past two centuries, the ability of cement to bind together the ingredients of concrete has quite literally shaped our world.  But this is not just a story about the past. Today and into the future, the material will remain essential to delivering new homes, schools, hospitals, workplaces, roads and railways, as well as the infrastructure that provides us with clean water, sanitation and the energy transition. This significant industrial milestone comes at a time when UK manufactured cement is vital to UK infrastructure and the development pipeline. Yet cement imports from countries producing with fossil fuels continue to undermine the UK’s ability to deliver low carbon construction.  Net zero is a major opportunity for growth in the cement industry, with capacity for carbon capture and storage a clear natural advantage for the UK if the opportunity is fully supported. It’s therefore important that Government continues to back the sector’s decarbonisation and UK construction buys cement that is responsibly sourced and made in cement kilns that are decarbonising. UK cement is part of our industrial heritage and our future.  Department for Business and Trade Department for Energy Security and Net Zero HM Treasury Aggregate Industries UK Breedon Group plc CEMCOR Ltd CEMEX UK Heidelberg Materials UK Tarmac Michael Conroy Jon Flitney Roger Griffiths Colum McCague

The Mineral Products Association is calling on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to use the upcoming Autumn Budget to back the UK’s minerals industry to help boost the economy and accelerate clean energy. Concrete and mineral products are essential to achieving the government’s housebuilding and clean energy targets. Overhauling the mineral planning system will ensure that demand for essential construction materials can continue to be met from sustainable, domestic sources. Read more about the MPA’s asks for Government here: https://lnkd.in/etncca3M

Good to see - cement is an essential material that needs CCUS due to process emissions, and it's great to see the minister say so straight off the bat.

Carbon Capture Usage and Storage is a key part of the UK concrete industry’s journey beyond net zero. The Mineral Products Association has welcomed the Government’s pledge to fund the launch of the UK’s first sites for carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) which could help make the country’s first net zero cement plant a reality. Read more about the importance of CCUS for our industry here: https://lnkd.in/eZZMujNx #concrete #CCUS #netzero

There’s plenty of concrete innovation brewing down under! In a suburb of Melbourne, Australia a concrete mixture containing waste coffee grounds has been integrated into the construction of a new footpath. Developed by researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, the innovative solution makes use of this waste product which would otherwise end up in landfill. Whether it’s using by-products from the construction industry or used coffee beans, ground-breaking alternatives for concrete mixtures are being explored all across the globe. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eEFTeYXv #concrete #innovation

The London College of Fashion’s new building in east London shows that concrete is staying in style. A feat of innovative design, architects Allies and Morrison have combined in siu concrete on the lower floors with a spectacular curving concrete staircase rising from the basement up to the fourth floor. Precast concrete has been used on the upper floors featuring steel-encased-in-concrete columns and beams. The LCF is also certified BREEAM Outstanding, exceeding the London Legacy Development Corporation’s target of reducing embodied carbon by 15%. Read more in our latest case study: https://lnkd.in/ezcnGncv #concrete #innovation