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Decarbonising concrete has been a focus of the industry for 30 years. MPA UK Concrete, the group representing the UK concrete industry, has developed a framework to help inform the delivery of an ambitious roadmap for the UK concrete and cement sector to deliver net negative emissions by 2050.

In this new Sustainability Series, The Concrete Centre will provide a wealth of information and resources to enable designers to specify sustainable concrete, design sustainably with concrete, navigate the research and data available to inform sustainable decision-making as well as provide insights into the innovation and research that will shape the future of concrete.

Emily Bonner is part of the Structural Engineering team at The Concrete Centre. As well as developing new resources to assist structural engineers designing with concrete, Emily is also a STEM ambassador. In this blog Emily talks about what being a STEM ambassador means to her.

Offsite construction is in demand. But rather than highlight the much-repeated benefits of design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA) I have considered here the significant benefits that concrete can bring to offsite construction that can save carbon and cost as well as contribute to health, wellbeing and our adaptation to climate change.

As we adjust to restrictions on our movement and the lockdown of schools and workplaces, this update from The Concrete Centre aims to help those working from home and those wanting to access design guidance. 

Futurebuild 2020 was the busiest year in recent memory, with the climate challenge at the top of the built environment agenda the event was popular with specifiers and sustainability experts alike. 

As the population grows, there is a greater demand for homes, particularly in urban areas. One answer to achieving this is building tall. To realise its full potential, a tall building must satisfy many varying objectives, including efficient layout; minimal circulation space and structural footprint; density of use; efficient services provision; speed of construction; cost; appearance and safety.

UK Concrete is part of the Mineral Products Association (MPA), the trade association for the aggregates, asphalt, cement, concrete, dimension stone, lime, mortar and silica, sand industries, and has been set up to represent the UK’s concrete industry.

The Government’s commitment to net zero carbon for UK is to be net zero by 2050. To make a genuinely positive impact to global climate change this needs to be achieved without significant carbon leakage – where we use products that emit their carbon elsewhere.

The Concrete Centre will be returning to Futurebuild in 2020, which will take place at London’s ExCel exhibition centre on 3rd - 5th March 2020.