Displaying items by tag: Innovate UK

UK: Recycling company Scott Bros plans to install a plant to produce low carbon concrete made from filter cake at its soil wash plant in Middlesbrough. The company has been working with Teesside University on a series of trials to find by how much it can reduce the amount of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) it is using in its concrete mixes. It has been researching how to use filter cake, a fine-grained clay, which it produces as a by-product from its two ‘urban quarries’ which convert construction and excavation waste into sand and aggregate. The silicate clay-rich filter cake, which has cementitious properties, is currently used as low value BS-certified pond lining material or inert engineering fill.

The €715,000 research project is being funded by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the UK’s innovation agency.

UK: The UK Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) has launched a competition for projects that promote the commercial adoption of reduced-CO₂ concrete. The competition aims to foster collaboration between concrete users and clean technology developers. It commands US$3.78m in total available funding from Innovate UK. Winning projects will claim full funding up to a total value of US$631,000. Applicants can participate by submitting a real world demonstration of their innovation or an equivalent approach on the Innovate UK website.

The competition is supported by the Concrete Commitment Cohort (CCC), a new alliance of UK concrete users that includes Anglian Water, the Environment Agency, Ferrovial Construction, HS2, JN Bentley, Laing O’Rourke, National Highways, Sellafield Sites, Transport for London, United Utilities and WSP.