Civils & Soft Landscaping


Enquire: www.dcep.co.uk Tel: 01630 673000 Fax: 01630 673247 Email: info@directcontactexhibitions.com Post: use the Enquiry Sheet PFA is green


Despite our ongoing economic woes, Chancellor George Osborne’s recent budgetary commitment to an extra £3bn a year on infrastructure improvements is good news. We need new roads, power stations and railways to get the economy moving, as a great deal of it is in terrible shape, but the construction sector needs this investment simply to get back up on its feet.


There’s no hiding away from the fact that much of the sector remains in stasis and with no clear sign of recovery any time soon - despite the talk of ‘green shoots’, this investment is a much needed boost that will both encourage growth and help the country compete at an international level once again. When it does, it’s important the sector is responding to the needs of the environment too, and that means continuing the progress being made to ‘green up’ construction.


As a fundamental part of the construction supply chain, concrete is a key opportunity for companies wanting to reduce their impact on the environment. Made mostly from aggregate and water, the production of concrete accounts for nearly five per cent of global carbon emissions and is a vast consumer of natural resources - which itself requires quarrying. The result is a material high in embodied CO2 which significantly harns the overall environmental credentials of a building.


This apart, concrete remains vital, with worldwide use more than double that of wood, plastic, steel and aluminium combined, and the concrete sector has been working hard to reduce its environmental impact. One core way it’s looking to do this is through the use of fly ash - sometimes known as Pulverised Fuel Ash (PFA) - as produced at coal-fired power stations. This very fine powder is the result of the combustion process used at coal-fired power stations and is ideal for use in a range of construction products, from precast concrete blocks to structural concrete used in major civil engineering projects.


Rather than using processed raw aggregates, fly ash can be used in cement and concrete products at replacement rates of up to 55 per cent. That means much less raw material is needed and CO2 emissions drop significantly, both in terms of quarrying but also in terms of the processing of aggregates, sand and stone. Less water is needed due to the fine structure of fly ash which allows manufacturers to produce a finished product that’s more cohesive and workable without harming its inherent strength or quality. In practical terms, these benefits are enormous, and fly ash-based concrete has been shown to be less susceptible to shrinkage, permeability and cracking - making ‘high volume’ fly ash mixes ideal for major infrastructure projects. The Thames Barrier, Maplethorpe sea defences, Heathrow Terminal 5 and the Shard have all made use of fly ash- based concrete in their construction with notable success, but the same benefits scale down to structural concrete, paving and precast concrete blocks.


The structural benefits are considerable and, the environmental benefits are enormous too - while Portland Cement is responsible for the creation of around 900kg per tonne of embodied CO2, the equivalent figure for fly ash is 4kg per tonne. Figures such as these can make the difference where BREEAM scores are concerned, and they’re easily achievable with the right information to hand. As the UK’s independent trade body for information and technical advice on the use of ash-based products, we can help you identify what you need and how you can use it. We can also point you towards your nearest supplier and explain how best to source and specify fly ash, so if you’re keen to make use of an innovative, sustainable and effective material, the UKQAA can help.


www.ukqaa.org.uk Reader Enquiry: 61 38 Reader Enquiry: 62 01902 373365


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