Costain and the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) are through to the final round of the first-ever Welsh sustainability awards, being announced on 19 November by national environmental charity Sustain Wales.
Costain is nominated for its role as the lead industrial sponsor for the £2 million, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council-funded Materials for Life project, led by Cardiff University jointly with Bath and Cambridge Universities, supported by the Welsh Government.
The group is contributing £600,000 worth of support for research into the development of self-healing concrete for use in construction, with the aim of cutting the UK's current £46bn annual bill for maintaining infrastructure.
The project will climax in a world-first on-site trial of the new material on the A465 Heads of the Valleys highway improvement scheme in South Wales.
The group has strengthened its sustainability offer with its acquisition of professional services consultancy Rhead, which specialises in infrastructure lifecycle solutions.
Costain corporate development director, Tim Bowen said: 'The acquisition has helped build our programme and commercial management advisory capability'.
CAT is nominated for its 'Who’s Getting Ready for Zero?’ report, issued to support goals including the widespread electrification of public transport.
The report is paving the way for the launch of a Zero Practitioners Modelling Network at the UN climate change summit 2015 in Paris in November.
A CAT spokesperson said the network will be open to emissions-concerned companies, public authorities and researchers in transport and other energy-consuming sectors around the world.
