Highways England trials ultra low carbon concrete on A14

Highways England is trialling ultra low-carbon concrete on its A14 upgrade project.

Cemfree is a cement produced by Cambridgeshire-based DB Group (Holdings) Ltd, which it claims can achieve embodied carbon savings of up to 80% when used to replace ordinary Portland cement (OPC) in concrete production.

Mick George Concrete has dedicated a 100-tonne silo at their Cambridgeshire-based batching plant to Cemfree.

With concrete the third-highest source of human-made CO2, Mick George Concrete agreed with Highways England to trial the product on a series of ancillary applications (kerb backing, drainage, mass fill, signage etc) within a controlled, live section of the £1.5bn A14 Huntingdon to Cambridge improvement scheme.

Michael George, managing director of the Mick George Group, commented: ‘Due to an increased corporate emphasis on carbon-reduction targets, there is undoubtedly more environmental consideration in construction build designs.

‘We have a strong reputation for developing cutting-edge solutions and niche products, and the introduction of Cemfree represented an opportunity to do both simultaneously.’