Structure Pal provides structural engineers with AI-based tools that enable them to reduce the required concrete in their design, without changing their workflow and without any learning curve, achieving great reduction in costs, volume and CO2 emissions.

The result in numbers:

1. Up to 15% concrete volume reduction.
2. Up to 15% reduction in concrete related execution costs.
3. Up to 50% design time reduction.
4. Up to 30% reduction in construction emitted Co2.

Structure Pal works directly on the BIM model and allows users full control of the properties of each project according to the client brief. The software will propose the minimum amount of concrete columns and slab thickness required. It will also determine the most efficient cross sections for the reinforced concrete elements.

Users pay per square metre of floor plan. The use of the software results in reduced reinforced concrete volume, CO2 emissions and construction cost. For every £1 invested in Structure Pal, users receive a £10 return on investment due to savings.

minimass beams are a new type of 3D printed concrete beam, to be used as a prefabricated structural element in new-build construction.

They are designed to use less material – concrete and steel – to achieve the same performance requirements as typical concrete beams. minimass beams can reduce the quantity of concrete by up to 60% and the quantity of steel by up to 50% which also significantly reduces costs, with predictions of up to 50% reduced material costs.

The beams are designed to Eurocodes and can be a like-for-like replacement to traditional concrete, steel or glulam beams, with minimal change to the design of the rest of the structure. The beams use a geometry which responds to the applied loads and they have large web openings which allow services to pass through them.

This is a good solution for beams longer than 6m and an excellent solution for beams longer than 12m. For short beams, e.g. in residential construction, it is likely that steel or shallow concrete beams are more appropriate.

The beams can be used with precast concrete floors, composite metal deck and CLT.

The cost of the solution is split between material costs and manufacturing costs. The material costs are significantly reduced – by up to 50%. The manufacturing cost is driven by the 3D printing process and the location of the project. Crucially, the labour costs associated with 3D printing are low, therefore the overall cost for the beam is of the order of 25% less than a traditional concrete beam.

Earth Friendly Concrete (EFC) is a zero cement concrete proven at scale on construction projects. It can reduce embodied CO2 in concrete by up to 70%, which will significantly help to decarbonise the UK construction sector. It does this by eliminating the need for cement and using its own binder system instead, which also positively impacts the circular economy. EFC ultra-low carbon concrete technology meets and exceeds the performance specifications of ordinary concrete and delivers superior durability. EFC is available for ready-mix and precast concrete production.

Aside from the obvious benefits of eliminating up to 70% of embodied carbon in cement based concrete, it has been proven that early engagement with a project design team can also position EFC as a cost effective alternative to ordinary concrete. This is due to the superior performance and durability of EFC, which enables less concrete and steel reinforcement to be used for many applications.

An independent LCA has been conducted to compare EFC’s cement binder and concrete with typical regional cement blends and this can be found in their .

Mevocrete is a competitively priced, cement made from 97% industrial waste. It reduces the impact of typical construction materials by clearing brown sites, reducing the need for landfills and creating a more efficient process for using industrial waste, both legacy and current.

Material Evolution needs to build automated production facilities to allow for greater production capacity in order to provide a viable competitor to ordinary portland cement.

Upfront costs are estimated at being at least £500,000 but this will be offset by low operating costs, as the manufacturing process requires very low energy consumption. A new facility will also create jobs in the local vicinity and boost local businesses.

Currently, it has a batch production facility that can produce 96 tonnes a day.

Hyperion Robotics combines large-scale, 3D printing with low-carbon concrete made of industrial waste materials such as mining tailings, ashes, slags and demolition waste. Their variety of sustainable infrastructure products include foundations, water tanks, trenches and buildings. They have developed a special construction material based mainly of mining tailings that uses zero cement. Accompanying this, their software enables optimized structural designs for 3D printing, resulting in minimal material usage. Clients can choose to use traditional cement-based concrete with the technology or low-carbon concrete made from local recycled materials.

The system has low power requirements at approximately 15kw/hr, though it may vary per project. Due to the decreased use of cement and virgin aggregates, embodied carbon is reduced, lead time is reduced by 50%, and the need for tailing storage facilities is lessened, limiting health and safety risks. Accompanying this, Hyperion Robotics also provides training, support and maintenance services.

Hyperion Robotics provides different options to allow customers to more easily adopt their technology – either an initial investment (£150k to £500k depending on the complexity of the systems) or through leasing it for a project / a certain period of time. Clients can expect an ROI in 12 months or less when Hyperion Robotics’ micro-factories are at full production, with 30% in financial savings due to the decreased use of cement and virgin aggregates. Their models and technology allow clients to easily scale up their production and execute projects that otherwise they would have not been able to deliver with traditional technology.

ConcreteDNA is a construction intelligence platform that allows contractors to build more efficiently, safely, and sustainably. The flagship concrete module is powered by a fully wireless and embeddable sensor that measures and transmits the compressive strength of the pour in real-time to the platform. Paired with an artificial intelligence feature that is able to predict the curing time of a given mix, contractors are able to plan ahead and strike concrete formwork that lies on the critical path precisely when it is safe to, rather than waiting on slow test cube lab reports.

By scientifically determining the compressive strength of concrete in real-time, contractors can choose a concrete mix that is only as performant as they need, allowing them to significantly reduce the cement content and be more responsive with design mixes. Thanks to these insights, ConcreteDNA currently helps contractors build up to 30% faster.

Converge promotes the use of low carbon concretes and alternatives, by validating their in-situ performance scientifically, and providing real-time intelligence to allow field teams to take proactive mitigating measures to ensure quality.

Converge customers can see anywhere between 3-22x ROI on the solution, with optimal results going to customers that are structured to act on the real-time data, and strike formwork as soon as the system shows that the concrete has reached critical strength.

Further benefits

• By allowing contractors to strike concrete formwork at the soonest safest moment, Converge allows contractors to build up top 30% faster. Finishing a project sooner means that diesel generators are running less.
• Thermal differential monitoring helps mitigate thermal cracking, meaning less rework and less waste.
• Wireless and embedded sensors provide a non-destructive method of testing concrete which results in less wasted concrete through testing cubes (or cylinders).

Supported by Innovate UK funding, this R&D project built on existing research to find ways to reduce the embodied carbon of precast concrete, crucially applied against a real-world project for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The resulting Decarbonising Precast Concrete report provides a step-by-step a guide as to how to achieve an immediate and significant carbon reduction across the supply chain for precast concrete, emphasising collaborative behaviours in order to realise these goals.

The precast solution realised through the Decarbonising Precast Concrete project achieved a 40% reduction in embodied carbon, against the Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE) embodied carbon database for building materials. By adopting the recommendations within this report, companies could achieve a 40% reduction in embodied carbon, and set a solid grounding for further innovation to decarbonise concrete.

Innovate UK’s Sustainable Innovation Fund provided a welcome opportunity for the supply chain-led team to freely explore all areas of decarbonisation of a concrete structure, enabling them to challenge existing design and specification rules for optimum carbon outcomes throughout the value chain.

By building on the foundation of existing research the team were able to expedite the development of a commercially-viable, decarbonised precast concrete product, using a set of solutions that can be implemented by companies now to considerably reduce the embodied carbon of structures against industry baselines.

The solution is commercially viable and outputs include:

• 40% reduction in embodied carbon against ICE Database
• Easy to manufacture solution that is compliant and technically ready for adoption across multiple sectors
• Optimised structural strength and improved concrete mix

Through the COLLABORATE – OPTIMISE – TEST – REFINE approach, companies can undertake the same process review to understand and reduce carbon across the value chain. This includes a production and logistics review, development and testing, and design solution optimisation. This is then underpinned by two Carbon Calculators, which identify the differences in carbon impact between traditional and modern methods of construction.

1. The New whole life carbon Building Level calculator identifies where different concrete mixes and materials can be compared to inform procurement and design decisions. The calculator complies with the following standards: EN 15978, RICS Professional Statement on Whole Life Carbon Assessment for the Built Environment, EN 16757.
2. The New whole life carbon concrete mix calculator is used to inform procurement and design decisions. The calculator complies with the following standards: PAS 2050:2011, BS EN 15804:2012, EN 16757.

Both the building level and the concrete mix calculators have been independently reviewed by ConstructionLCA. Using the above tools environmental impacts can be measured, valued and visually represented in a dashboard. Data from the supply chain, such as the environmental impacts per m3, m2 or kg of product, can be measured in the tool. This enables the comparison of the net carbon equivalent saving per element of the structure.

Betolar is a Finnish materials technology company that offers sustainable concrete production with Geoprime®.

The solution converts several previously unused high-volume industrial side streams (e.g. by-products from the energy, steel, paper and pulp and mining industries) into a substitute for cement. Betolar’s mission is to enable the green transformation of various industries globally, especially in the construction, process and energy industries by providing solutions to utilise its unique materials technology.

Product coming soon to the UK. Please for more information.

Betolar’s AI-optimised innovation is available at a competitive cost compared to conventional cement-based concrete manufacturing, leveraging the existing manufacturing processes.

The Geoprime® solution can be implemented in existing production facilities – no major new investments are required. A custom solution can be put into production in 4 months and the products meet relevant EU construction standards, including compression strength and viscosity.

The Geoprime® license solution offers cost-savings in logistics, as the manufacturing process takes place close to the source of the side streams.

Typically, depending on design criteria, the upper layers of a pavement design are made up of 3 layers of Asphalt; Base, Binder and Surface Course. Although these products can be produced using an element of recycled materials, they are normally made using virgin aggregates. Such aggregates must be heated to temperatures between 140 and 190 degrees, and materials must be laid and  compacted within a narrow time frame, circa 2 hours.

Foamed Asphalt incorporating Manufactured Limestone (M-LS) by O.C.O Technology can replace the base and binder layers in traditional pavement and, depending on the design criteria, could use between 20% and 50% of M-LS Carbon negative aggregate in the mix. This coupled with other recycled aggregates, for example asphalt plannings, can provide a product using around 90% recycled products. An additional benefit for the base replacement is that the material is laid cold and can be stored for several weeks and the binder replacement can be laid within 8 hours of production. In certain applications, this product can also be produced on site using a mobile production plant,  reducing vehicle movements.

O.C.O Technology has developed a process – Accelerated Carbonation Technology (ACT) – that utilises carbon dioxide gas as a resource to treat and valorise a wide range of wastes. ACT is a genuine carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) process with significant volumes of carbon dioxide being permanently captured. Many residual materials react naturally with carbon dioxide. If the conditions are carefully controlled, this natural reaction can be accelerated to take place in minutes rather years. This results in the formation of calcium carbonate (limestone) and other very stable complex compounds.

The ACT process has been applied in the UK to the treatment and recycling of ‘fly ash’ residues from modern Energy from Waste (EfW) facilities. Known as air pollution control residues (APCr) the material is a hazardous waste and historically has been treated and landfilled. The ACT process allows the recycling of APCr into an aggregate product that is used in the manufacture of building blocks. The quantity of APCr in the UK is increasing due to the growth in EfW facilities, so the deployment of the ACT is opportune as it reduces the requirement for landfill and provides a recycling solution.

ACT not only recycles the residual material; it also captures CO₂ during the manufacturing process. The aggregate has a carbon footprint in the region of -40 to -50 kg CO_{2 eq} per tonne of aggregate produced. In the financial year ending September 2020, O.C.O treated 132,000 tonnes of APCr to create 316,000 tonnes of aggregate, permanently capturing approximately 15,000 tonnes of CO₂.

No direct cost information has been provided at this time, but O.C.O Technology state that costs for this solution may be reduced compared to conventional asphalt design.

Manufactured Limestone (M-LS) carbon negative aggregate creates the opportunity for genuine low carbon or carbon negative construction. M-LS can be used in a variety of construction applications including in the manufacture of medium density building blocks or used in low strength concretes. O.C.O Technology has developed a versatile process – Accelerated Carbonation Technology (ACT) – that utilises carbon dioxide gas as a resource to treat and valorise a wide range of wastes. ACT is a genuine carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) process with significant volumes of carbon dioxide being permanently captured. Many residual materials react naturally with carbon dioxide. If the conditions are carefully controlled, this natural reaction can be accelerated to take place in minutes rather than years. This results in the formation of calcium carbonate (limestone) and other very stable complex compounds.

The ACT process has been applied in the UK to the treatment and recycling of ‘fly ash’ residues from modern Energy from Waste (EfW) facilities. Known as air pollution control residues (APCr) the material is a hazardous waste and historically has been treated and landfilled. The ACT process allows the recycling of APCr into an aggregate product that is used in the manufacture of building blocks. The quantity of APCr in the UK is increasing due to the growth in EfW facilities, so the deployment of the ACT is opportune as it reduces the requirement for landfill and provides a recycling solution. ACT not only recycles the residual material, it also captures CO2 in the process to create a carbon negative aggregate. The aggregate has a carbon footprint in the region of -40 to -50 kg CO2 eq per tonne of aggregate produced. In the financial year ending September 2020, O.C.O treated 132,000 tonnes of APCr to create 316,000 tonnes of aggregate, permanently capturing approximately 15,000 tonnes of CO2.

The M-LS is used used in multiple applications in the construction industry. Predominantly used in the manufacture of medium dense blocks for builders alongside being incorporated into 6 series materials and as a blend in Type 1. Extensive research and R&D into using the aggregate in concrete and foam mix asphalt applications is currently taking place. By using the material as a blend, it allows the quarries to control the utilisation of their virgin aggregates in a more sustainable manner.

M-LS offers a saving of -44kg per ton of CO2. This has been independently verified and certificated to a PAS 2050 standard.