22 THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE Building a Greener Future
Cassandre Le Galliard of Aggregate Industries discusses the driving factors housebuilders are facing concerning embodied carbon in cement
H
ousebuilders are at the forefront of the move towards creating an eco-friendlier environment, incorporating high-quality materials, low carbon technologies and green energy solutions into sustainable homes that enrich our living standards. While the new Government’s commitment to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years is welcomed, vast amounts of materials will be needed, and sustainability must be central to this. Aggregate Industries is already collaborating with developers and contractors to drive sustainable building through the increased use of reduced carbon and recycled materials. But how much greener would the world be if cement could be low carbon as well?
That’s why the London-based Global Cement and Concrete Association has pledged not just to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete – of which cement is a key ingredient – but to achieve neutrality across the industry by 2050 (the year that the Government has itself committed to reaching net zero). It is an enviable target, and since launching our own ECOPact concrete product range, we are witnessing a dramatic increase in demand for low carbon sustainable products.
LOW CARBON SOLUTIONS A now much-in-demand low-carbon solution, ECOPact has been taken up in 30 worldwide markets, including housebuilding, to reduce the footprint of buildings and infrastructure to decarbonise construction at scale. Delivering 100% performance, ECOPact can reduce the embodied carbon of buildings and homes by at least 30% without offsets. It is the industry’s broadest offering of low-carbon concrete for sustainable construction and is sold at
WWW.HBDONLINE.CO.UK
a range of levels, starting at 30% lower embedded carbon compared to standard (CEM1) concrete.
By utilising a mix of supplementary cementitious materials and admixture technology, it is supporting a circular economy, it can also include recycled construction demolition materials, enhancing its environmental benefits by saving natural resources. Building on the success of ECOPact, ECOPlanet has been added to our range of sustainable building solutions, which are aligned with the world’s highest standards of sustainable building certifications – from BREEAM to LEED. Its sustainability profile is driven by innovative low-emission raw materials and, using calcined clay and recycled construction demolition materials, our ECOPlanet formulations reduce buildings’ CO2
footprint by up to 30%.
ACCELERATION TOWARDS NET ZERO Concrete is the most used man-made material in the world, with about 14 billion cubic metres being used every day, 40% of which goes into building homes. Buildings account for around 40% of energy related global carbon emissions on an annual basis, with at least one-quarter of the emissions resulting from embodied carbon or carbon emissions associated with building materials and construction. In the UK, according to the Climate Change Committee, 14% of greenhouse gas emissions come from our 28 million homes. Strenuous efforts are therefore being made to tackle that and housebuilders are increasingly aware of the pressing need to accelerate the industry towards net zero. The majority, however, are already ‘squaring up’ to the challenges thrown at them by the Future Homes and Building Standard (FHBS) which aims to revolutionise new homes in the UK by slashing carbon emissions by 75-80% compared to current standards. Significantly, 9 of senior leaders of housebuilders across the UK, contributing to an in-depth report – “Building Blocks to Future Homes” – conducted by Aggregate Industries, are fully aware of the FHBS and the required changes needed across their business for compliance.
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