Materials firm Hanson is supplying a lower carbon concrete as part of the multi-million pound project to upgrade the Gatwick Airport rail station.
To date the company has supplied main contractor Costain with approximately 3,000 cubic metres of concrete containing 70% Regen GGBS (ground granulated blast furnace slag) for the project to refurbish the existing station concourse and build a second, bigger one that will create a new entrance into the airport.
Hanson said Regen GGBS is used as a replacement for some of the Portland cement (CEM I) content in concrete and that its manufacture requires less than a third of the energy and produces less than 10% of the CO2 emissions of CEM I.
It added that the concrete provides the correct durability requirements while saving more than 500 tonnes of CO2 emissions over a standard concrete – ‘the equivalent of 500 people making a return flight between Paris and New York’.
However, the firm has not stated what proportion of GGBS it considers a ‘standard’ concrete to contain for the purpose of this calculation. GGBS, which is a by-product of the iron-making industry, has been used in construction for decades. According to Hanson’s website, the UK uses more than two million tonnes of Regen GGBS annually as a cement replacement.
Calvin Blacker, Costain’s design manager for the Gatwick station project, said: ‘Hanson was chosen as our materials supply partner due to its proven track record for innovation in lowering the carbon footprint of concrete within its supply chain.
‘We have worked closely together to deliver concrete that meets the challenging requirements of the project while adding to its low carbon credentials.’
The Gatwick project is being managed by Network Rail in partnership with the Department for Transport and Govia Thameslink Railway.
Gatwick Airport Ltd and Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership are co-funding the project with £37m and £10m respectively.
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