Sustainability

A project helping Skanska to develop hydrogen-fuelled construction equipment has been awarded more than £400,000 through a government scheme to help the sector adapt to the red-diesel ban. Technology firm ULEMCo Ltd, which is working alongside Skanska and the Buildings Research Establishment (BRE), was given £418,613 to develop and deploy…

UK net-zero ambitions will fall short unless the built environment is given stronger support to reduce its carbon emissions, MPs have warned. A report published by the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) concludes that the sector had received “little government guidance” towards achieving UK environmental targets, arguing that the industry’s “embodied…

Reducing the size of HS2’s Euston hub means it is “no longer possible” to remove spoil from the station by rail, the Department for Transport (DfT) has said. Last month, HS2 sparked anger from MPs and residents when it diverted from a promise to remove debris from the Euston site…

Hospitals in Nottingham, Birmingham and Wolverhampton have been awarded a share of a £553m decarbonisation fund. More than £70m has gone to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham to decarbonise the building, while Birmingham Women’s Hospital and Birmingham Children’s Hospital will benefit from £50m to install low-energy heating alternatives and…

On the face of it, HS2’s South Kilburn site is no different to any other construction site in the country. As you would expect, groups of construction workers are donned in high-vis jackets and helmets, excavated spoil is being loaded on to a dumper truck for removal and an enormous…

Hinkley Point C developer EDF has announced another cost hike and delay for the nuclear power station. Project costs for the Somerset nuclear plant have spiked by a further £3bn, which pushes it £8bn above 2017 estimates. EDF has also announced a year delay to the project. The latest increase…

The Scottish government has been urged to halt new energy-from-waste (EfW) schemes immediately. The independent Stop, Sort, Burn, Bury? report by Colin Church, chief executive of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, has concluded that the Scottish government should rapidly reduce the amount of waste that heads to landfill…

Mace has secured two sustainability-linked loans worth a combined £60m to support its overseas growth and environmental projects – one of the biggest deals of its kind, according to the firm. Through an agreement with Spanish bank BBVA, Mace has clinched two “ESG-linked liquidity financing facilities”, with the largest worth…

A group of construction bodies has come together to develop a building standard for net-zero carbon buildings. At present, UK buildings are directly responsible for about a quarter of the UK’s carbon emissions and the new standard, once launched, aims to verify such buildings on their carbon qualities. The aim…

Mace has appointed a new lead for its retrofit business in a step towards its vision for sustainability. Rachel O’Donnell (pictured) has been named as Mace Consult’s retrofit director, who will work with the business sector and practice groups. O’Donnell formerly worked with Aecom as business unit director for ground,…