Performance and sustainability

Good sound insulation by walls and floors is easily achieved using the inherent mass and damping qualities of concrete. The need for additional finishes is minimal, thereby reducing capital and ongoing maintenance costs.

Airtightness refers to the measurement criteria used to assess the uncontrolled air leakage in buildings. Since the 2006 edition of Part L1A and L2A of the Building Regulations (2010 in Scotland) a limit has been set for the maximum acceptable level of air leakage in new buildings.

There is a growing recognition among governments, businesses and the public that we urgently need to transform our take-make-dispose economy into a circular one, in which resources are kept in use for as long as possible while maximum value is extracted.

Concrete frames can be constructed quickly, safely and are cost-effective.

Concrete has been recorded in existence as long ago as 7,000BC. Throughout history, concrete has proven itself to be a most flexible and durable construction material. Today, modern technology has led to high performance concrete with super-tensile load qualities.

Concrete does not burn – it cannot be set on fire and it does not emit any toxic fumes when affected by fire. Concrete is proven to have a high degree of fire resistance and, in the majority of applications, can be described as virtually fireproof.

Concrete is inherently water resilient and entirely suitable in a construction designed to be either waterproof, as required for water barriers, or water resilient. The extent to which the structure keeps out water depends on the specification of the concrete itself and its design details.

Concrete and masonry use UK produced constituent materials and are UK manufactured construction projects. There are many benefits associated with specifying a local product.

Thermal mass is a concept in building design that describes how the mass of the building provides inertia against internal temperature fluctuations. This inherent property of concrete can reduce the operational energy efficiency of buildings.

How concrete can deliver low energy through embodied CO₂, operational and embodied CO₂ for housing and structural frames.

Research by Arup found that concrete solutions can be designed to meet stringent vibration criteria and are the most efficient in doing so, with the smallest increases in depth and material required and with minimal additional cost.

This page provides information of concrete industry sustainable construction strategy and its annual performance reporting