An £8.5 million government-funded research project into building roads with low-carbon and recycled materials such as grass cuttings and carbon-capture cement is looking for innovators to come forward with materials and designs.
The Centre of Excellence for Decarbonising Roads, is part of ADEPT Live Labs 2: Decarbonising Local Roads in the UK, a three-year, UK-wide £30 million programme funded by the Department for Transport that aims to decarbonise the local highway network.
The centre will focus on creating an industry-trusted process for the identification, evaluation, trialling and sharing of groundbreaking low-carbon materials for road construction and maintenance.
Now the website www.decarbonisingroads.co.uk is live and open to innovators with new low carbon road materials to submit for trial and evaluation – successful submissions could then get support to scale up.
In addition to giving innovators the opportunity to submit ideas for consideration, the website will provide information on the background to the project, live trials and regular blogs.
The project is split into a North and South campus, with a collaboration between North Lanarkshire Council and its partner Amey in the north, and Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) and its partner Colas Ltd in the south.
The aim is to fast track the provision of solutions to the industry that will drive decarbonisation in road construction and maintenance, accelerating the drive towards net-zero.
With the programme already underway, the Centre of Excellence for Decarbonising Roads is already reviewing a number of ideas and innovations, but is seeking further contributions from innovators, researchers, local authorities and beyond.
Mark Corbin, director of network resilience with TfWM, which is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), said: “Decarbonising our highway network will be a crucial part of our journey to net-zero and these innovations could make our roads more efficient to build and maintain.
“This exciting project also places the West Midlands and UK at the forefront of this ground-breaking technology with the potential to deliver investment and skilled jobs for the long-term.”
Councillor Kenneth Stevenson, convener of the communities committee and Live Labs 2 champion, at North Lanarkshire Council, said: “The Centre of Excellence for Decarbonising Roads is driving forward innovative solutions to reduce carbon emissions on the UK roads network, and the new web site will help identify ideas and materials to test and develop for the future.
“We will bring together business, academic and public sector partners in a centralised hub to trial and evaluate new materials and share the learning to support the move to carbon net zero.”
The Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT) represents local authority county, unitary and metropolitan directors across England. Live Labs 2 includes seven projects, grouped by four interconnected themes, led by local authorities working alongside commercial and academic partners.
Each project is testing new solutions to decarbonise construction, maintenance and decommissioning the local highway network. The programme is overseen by an independent Commissioning Board, which includes the Department for Transport and other experts from across the public and private sectors.