Capital Concrete Supplies Record Breaking Earth Friendly Concrete Pour For Permanent Works

Capital Concrete has supplied the largest ever continuous pour of their cement-free Earth Friendly Concrete, to the London Power Tunnels project.

736m3 of Earth Friendly Concrete (EFC) has been used to fill the base of a 55m deep tunnel drive shaft at the National Grid’s Hurst substation in South London. The pour supplied to contractor Hochtief-Murphy joint venture (HMJV) took place in April and is the first time EFC has been used in large scale permanent construction.

EFC being poured into the deep level tunnel at Hurst's substation

The cement free solution uses GGBS and Fly ash instead of Portland cement and reduces embodied carbon levels by up to 87%, saving around 180kg of CO2 per cubic metre in comparison to traditional concrete. 

Capital Concrete's drivers hard at work supplying the continuous pour

National Grid Project Director, Onur Aydemir said: “We are always looking for new ways to innovate and to now be using this carbon saving cement-free alternative to conventional concrete at scale and on site is exciting. This world record-breaking pour also offers the opportunity to evaluate the technology ahead of future possible rollout across our network in England and Wales, demonstrating our ambition to achieve net zero construction across all our projects by 2025/26.”

Luke Smith, Managing Director of Capital Concrete commented “We have been supplying Earth Friendly Concrete since January 2020 as a low carbon, high performance alternative to standard, cement-based concrete.

“We are delighted that the Capital Concrete team could work together with Hochtief-Murphy to provide the technical expertise and focus on customer service to deliver the biggest EFC pour globally to date over an 11 hour period for the London Power Tunnels Project.”

Capital Concrete has previously supplied EFC for use other London based projects such as HS2, Plaistow Wharf, and Nova East Development where the material’s low levels of embodied carbon, high tensile strength, and low shrinkage have helped meet project requirements.

If you would like to find out more about Earth Friendly Concrete, please click here or call 020 3974 0520 for more information.