Oakdale: a step-change in UK materials and manufacturing using carbon negative materials to achieve carbon neutral batch designs

The hard landscaping (paths, driveways, steps, walls, kerbs) industry is under immense pressure to reduce its carbon footprint to reach net zero targets by 2050 and for the UK to cut its carbon emissions by 68% by 2030 under the Paris agreement. With the cement/concrete industry being among the most polluting and resource-intensive industries globally, meeting these environmental targets will require game-changing materials and manufacturing processes. Considering that concrete is responsible for 50-85% of the embodied carbon in any building project, unlocking novel, resource-efficient materials with low-emissions profiles that displace today's materials will be key to deeply decarbonise the cement industry.

Oakdale, SME based in North Yorkshire, and the Materials Processing Institute (MPI), research and technology organisation (RTO) based in the Tees Valley, are collaborating to tackle the industry's ultimate challenge: developing a commercially-viable, Low-Embodied Carbon Concrete, with a Carbon Neutral footprint (LECC-CN) to manufacture Heavy Duty (HD) kerbs, which no manufacturer is currently capable of doing. The consortium is fusing MPI's cutting-edge fundamental research expertise and Oakdale's long-term industrial know-how and experience developing novel products with low-embodied carbon content for the paving industry.

The LECC-CN batch design will be ground-breaking, rivalling the cost of any product currently on the market and meeting stringent industry performance requirements. However, it will be doing so with the lowest, and if possible, carbon-negative footprint. Oakdale's new products will be underpinned by a life cycle assessment, certifying their environmental impacts. As such, this project will disrupt the cement/concrete and low-carbon cement/concrete industries, providing an alternative material for the future economy capable of substantially addressing the industry's most important and urgent challenge.