Displaying items by tag: UK

UK: Holcim UK has published a report called ‘Making Sustainable Construction a Reality’ outlining its plans to support sustainable construction following a survey. It details trends shaping construction and the five commitments the company is making to ensure it reaches a more sustainable future. The key areas include: decarbonisation; circular economy and waste reduction; smarter construction; people and communities; and integrating nature.

The research, involving 2000 participants, revealed that 41% of the group thought that the UK’s urban spaces are currently built sustainably. In addition, 82% of the group believed there should be more access to green spaces across the country, 69% thought that the government should take the lead in driving sustainable action and 54% also held the opinion that businesses must play a key role. Finally, 80% wanted companies to be more transparent about their sustainability policies.

Lee Sleight, CEO at Holcim UK, said “Our research indicates that many recognise the need to incorporate more green spaces across the nation. Yet, it is clear that the government and businesses must work together to achieve this.” He added that the subsidiary of Holcim is addressing the challenges identified through methods such as accurate reporting, higher usage of alternative fuels, its sustainable product ranges and its ongoing Nature Strategy. Projects part of the latter initiative include planting a 64 hectare woodland at Glensanda Quarry in Scotland.

UK: A consortium led by HydraB Group - including Hygen Energy, Ryze Power, HYCAP Group and Wrightbus -has submitted proposals to the UK government for the development of Project HySpeed. The project targets 1GW of green hydrogen production capacity by 2030. The €7.6bn project aims to develop a national network of hydrogen production hubs to fuel energy-intensive industries like steel, glass and cement production,via the gas grid.

Project HySpeed, which is also backed by a large private-sector coalition that includes Centrica (owner of British Gas), JCB, Johnson Matthey, Heidelberg Materials UK, ITM Power and National Gas, aims to cut CO2 emissions from heavy industry by 1Mt/yr.

Earlier in April 2025, the UK government shortlisted 27 electrolytic hydrogen projects to progress to the next stage of the Second Hydrogen Allocation Round (HAR2), during which the government expects to support up to 875MW. It previously allocated €2.23bn of funding for 11 large-scale green hydrogen projects under HAR1.

UK: LKAB Minerals and Forterra have partnered to produce recycled calcined clay from unwanted bricks as a traditional cement replacement, with production set to begin at LKAB’s Flixborough plant in Scunthorpe in June 2025. The material is made by crushing bricks sourced from Forterra’s Kings Dyke site in Peterborough.

LKAB Minerals UK managing director Steve Handscomb said “The traditional manufacturing and materials industries have to work harder than other less energy intensive industries, and need significant investments to upgrade equipment. We are committed to playing a role in the transition. In fact, we are already a significant producer of GGBS, and in our minerals division, 45% of the minerals we sell are from recycled sources or by-products.”

UK: Heidelberg Materials UK has secured planning permission to build a carbon capture plant at its Padeswood cement works in north Wales. The facility will capture up to 800,000t/yr of CO₂ for storage via the HyNet North West pipeline under Liverpool Bay.

The project is expected to create around 50 new full-time jobs, and up to 500 additional jobs during construction. Once operational, the Padeswood facility will capture ‘almost all’ of the CO₂ produced at the cement works and enable the production of evoZero cement by 2029.

UK: Drax Power has entered a 20-year joint venture agreement with Power Minerals to build a new facility to process pulverised fuel ash into supplementary cementitious material (SCM) for cement.

The facility will be located adjacent to Drax Power site and will produce 400,000t/yr of SCM for use in lower-carbon cement. Power Minerals will construct, own and operate the plant. Drax will supply ash, power and water, as well as share profits from SCM sales. There is no capital investment required by Drax.

Operations will begin by the end of 2026. Drax expects the project to generate incremental adjusted earnings by interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of €6m annually between 2027 and 2046.

UK: Mark Grimshaw-Smith has been appointed as a non-executive director to its Board of Logistics UK. He currently works as the Rail and Sea Manager for Cemex UK. Other appointments to this board include Jamie Hartles, Rem Noormohamed and James Wroath.

Grimshaw-Smith has worked for over 40 years in the construction materials supply chain and logistics sector, covering all modes of transport. He has worked for Cemex for over 15 years, most recently as its Rail and Sea Manager. He helped to develop Cemex's global rail safety standards, representing Cemex’s Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. He is a graduate in economics from the University of Oxford and holds a master’s of business administration (MBA) from the University of Warwick.

Logistics UK is a trade association representing the logistics sector, including road, rail, sea, and air.

UK: The University of Sheffield, the Sellafield power station, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the UK National Nuclear Laboratory have launched a €1.2m research partnership to explore the use of limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) in nuclear waste encapsulation. The project will study how characteristics and amounts of calcined clays can produce cement encapsulants that support safe and reliable nuclear waste conditioning and disposal at Sellafield.

Head of the Sheffield research team Brant Walkley said “This partnership will enhance our overall programme of work focused on development of new cement technologies for the nuclear sector, and will enable our cross-sector team based at both the University of Sheffield and Sellafield to further strengthen its position as a global leader in cement science and engineering.”

UK: Cemex has announced the construction of a mortar plant in Swindon, Wiltshire as part of its strategy to supply more alternative and sustainable materials to growing urban centres. The Mexico-based group said the plant will begin operations in the second half of 2025.

The new plant will produce Cemex's Vertua low-carbon mortars, with a CO2 footprint at least 30% lower than that of standard mortars. It will also feature a drying system designed to minimise heat consumption and significantly reduce fossil fuel consumption throughout the production process.

"As part of our growth strategy, we make strategic acquisitions and build new plants in advanced markets," said Fernando A Gonzalez, Cemex's CEO. "This strategically-located plant will enhance our production capacity in the country, advance our decarbonisation goals and allow us to offer a better experience to our customers in the region."

UBE Mitsubishi Cement recently released an update on its commercial scale demonstration using ammonia as a fuel at its Ube plant. It is currently testing the use of ammonia in both the cement kiln and calciner at the site. It has set the aim of reaching a 30% coal substitution rate with ammonia in the cement kiln by the end of March 2025. It has described the project as a world first. Planned future work includes running ammonia combustion tests alongside post-consumer plastics.

The company announced the three-year project in mid-2023. Utilities company Chubu Electric Power has been working on it and UBE Corporation has been supplying the ammonia for the test. The scheme dates back to before Mitsubishi Materials and Ube Industries merged their cement businesses in 2022. Ube Industries previously took part in a government research project looking at the topic, running combustion tests and numerical analysis in small industrial furnaces.

Another ammonia research project in the cement sector was revealed in 2024 by Heidelberg Materials in the UK. The company was awarded just under €0.40m in funding by Innovate UK through its UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) fund, together with engineering consultants Stopford and Cranfield University. The 12-month feasibility study aimed to assess the use of ammonia as a hydrogen carrier and evaluate the most economical method of on-site ammonia cracking to generate hydrogen for use by clinker kilns. It also intended to investigate the various tiers of the UK's existing ammonia supply chain network for the suitable transportation, offloading and storage of ammonia.

The UK project explained that it was looking at ammonia as a hydrogen carrier due to its high volumetric energy density. This, potentially, makes ammonia easier and cheaper to store and transport than hydrogen. It pointed out that storing and transporting hydrogen is difficult and the chemical is expensive. It also noted that the volumetric energy density of ammonia is 45% higher than that of liquid hydrogen. The benefit of switching to a zero-carbon fuel was that it could cut CO₂ emissions by the cement and concrete sector in the UK by 16%.

The attraction of ammonia to the cement industry is similar to that of hydrogen. Both are versatile chemicals that can be produced and used in a variety of ways. The production processes and supply chains of both chemicals are linked. The Haber–Bosch process, for example, uses hydrogen to manufacture ammonia. It can also be cracked to release the hydrogen. When used as fuels neither release CO₂ emissions directly. This comes down to the method of production. Like hydrogen, there is a similar informal colour scheme indicating carbon intensity (Grey, Blue, Green and Turquoise). Despite the advantages listed above, the disadvantages of using ammonia include toxicity and NO_x emissions, as well as the fact that there is little experience of using ammonia as a fuel. The worldwide ammonia market was bigger by volume in 2023 with production of just under 200Mt compared to hydrogen production of just under 100Mt.

Back in Japan, the national government has been promoting the use of ammonia technology for the power generation sector. It added ammonia to the country’s national energy plan in the early 2020s following research on running power plants with a mixture of ammonia and coal. The ambition is to build up levels of ammonia co-firing at power plants, develop the necessary technology and grow supply chains. This, it is hoped, will broaden, diversify and decarbonise the domestic energy mix and pull together a new international market too. Unfortunately, this strategy has had criticism. One study by BloombergNEF in 2022 estimated, for example, that the electricity cost of Japan-based power stations switching to firing ammonia by 2050 would be more expensive than generation from renewables such as solar or wind.

This explains why the ammonia project by UBE Mitsubishi Cement is leading the way. The interest by a European cement company shows that others are thinking the same way too. Yet again, the potential decarbonisation solution for cement is likely to lead towards more complex industrial supply chains. The next steps to watch will be whether a cement plant in Japan actually starts to co-fire ammonia on a regular basis and if any more ammonia projects pop up elsewhere around the world.

UK: Aggregate Industries has rebranded as Holcim UK. The company operates over 200 sites across the UK with 4000 employees. Following 20 years as a UK-based subsidiary of Holcim Group, the new direction sees the business align more closely with its Swiss-based parent company, which operates across 70 countries and employs over 60,000 people worldwide.

Holcim UK CEO Lee Sleight said “Our evolution from Aggregate Industries to Holcim UK is much more than a rebrand. It represents a commitment to leading the sector towards a more sustainable future through a commitment to innovation and collaboration.”