Futurebuild 2024
The Concrete Centre championed concrete innovation at Futurebuild 2024 with both a Concrete Futures exhibition and a plethora of latest best practice guidance and advice.
The Concrete Futures exhibition, which forms part of Futurebuild’s Innovation Trail featured real-life examples of the many innovations available for lower carbon concrete. View the Samples Guide from the exhibition.
The samples help tell the full concrete story through specification of lower carbon concrete using the latest multi-component concretes available in BS 8500:2023, decarbonisation techniques in design and its circular economy potential in recyclability at end-of-life.
New guidance was also launched at the show, including Concrete Quarterly, winter 2023, which has a technical article on the new BS 8500; the How to BS 8500 guide; Masonry Construction Explained and a CQ Focus which was a collection of exemplar reuse projects.
Speaking sessions within Futurebuild programme
The Concrete Centre, and its sister organisations MPA Precast and MPA Masonry were delighted to curate speaking sessions within the Futurebuild programme. Details of these are below, and recordings of them will be available and linked here shortly.
All the talks below are now available to catch up on-demand, please click into each one below and follow the link.
Chair: Claire Ackerman, Executive Director - Concrete, Mineral Products Association
Synopsis: The inherent properties and performance of concrete, including durability, fire and flood resistance, make it an important part of the solution towards creating a resilient, net zero carbon society. Concrete remains essential for our economy, homes, buildings, infrastructure, and quality of life and is on a journey to decarbonise. The sector’s early action has achieved a 53% absolute emissions reduction since 1990 and roadmaps have identified the levers needed to reach net zero.
This seminar will provide an update on the latest sector activity to decarbonise cement and concrete; guidance on what clients and designers can do now to reduce carbon in their projects; and an overview of resources to help designers specify lower carbon concretes based on changes in the concrete standard, BS 8500. The session will also cover the activities on carbon measurements and disclosure to facilitate lower carbon concrete procurement such are benchmarking and sector EPDs.
- Welcome & Introduction - Claire Ackerman, Executive Director - Concrete, Mineral Products Association
- A pathway to low carbon construction - Marian Garfield, Head of Sustainability, Heidelberg Materials
- Specifying lower carbon concretes to BS 8500 - Gareth Wake, Director, MPA Ready-Mixed Concrete
- Reducing project-level carbon - Noushin Khosravi, Head of Sustainability, MPA UK Concrete
- Q&A
Catch up on-demand here
Chair: Mark Shepherd, MPA Precast
Synopsis: The inherent properties and performance of precast concrete, including durability, fire and flood resistance, make it an important part of the solution towards creating a resilient, net zero carbon society.
This seminar will cover the latest sector activity to decarbonise UK precast concrete and guidance on what clients and designers can do now to reduce carbon in their projects. The session will also showcase recent projects and share the measures taken to save carbon and improve material efficiency and circularity.
- Welcome - Mark Shepherd, Director, MPA Precast
- Decarbonising precast concrete - Matt Butcher, Manager, UK Concrete
- Innovation to decarbonise precast concrete - Glen Rust, R&D Engineering Leader, Laing O'Rourke
- Using AI to deliver material efficiency and carbon reduction in precast concrete- Ross McWhirter, Lead R&D Engineer AI, FP McCann
- Q&A
Catch up on-demand here
Presenter: Elaine Toogood, Director - Architecture & Sustainable Design, The Concrete Centre
Concrete is continuously evolving and innovating to meet the needs of society. Elaine will present her top 10 innovations in concrete formulation, design or reuse that meet the carbon and circular economy credentials of a sustainable built environment.
Catch up on-demand here
Chair: Elaine Toogood, Director - Architecture & Sustainable Design, The Concrete Centre
Synopsis: The inherent properties and performance of concrete masonry, including durability, fire and flood resistance, make it an important part of the solution towards creating a resilient, net zero carbon society.
This seminar will give an update on the latest sector activity to decarbonise UK concrete blocks and masonry, and guidance on what clients and designers can do now to reduce carbon in their housing projects. The session will also showcase recent projects and provide guidance for meeting the requirements of the current Part L and the forthcoming Future Homes Standard.
- Welcome & introduction - Elaine Toogood, Director - Architecture & Sustainable Design, The Concrete Centre
- Sustainability benefits of a local supply chain - Matt Butcher, Manager, UK Concrete
- Project 80: An exemplar of low carbon masonry homes - Dr Tony Hopkin, Head of Construction, Quality and Innovation – Midland Heart Visiting Lecturer, Construction Innovation – University of Reading
- Thermal performance and whole life carbon of masonry homes - Tom de Saulles, Building Physicist, The Concrete Centre
- Q&A
Catch up on-demand here
Chair: Rachel Skinner, WSP
The session will focus on the various corners of Low Carbon Concrete and the challenges for the use of it. Three speakers will discuss 1) what challenges the insurance sector is facing and what they are doing to address the issue, 2) how the traditional standards for concrete are developing to incorporate new technologies and how the new Flex 350 can address this and 3) the work of the LCCG looking at carbon measuring assessment and reporting linking to the benchmarking of concrete. The session will also discuss LCCG’s future and recent workstreams.
Speakers:
Andrew Mullholland, AMCRETE UK
Gemma Tait, WTW
Noushin Khosravi, UK Concrete, MPA
Catch up on-demand here