HS2’s new Euston station has used Earth Friendly Concrete (EFC) – a material that reduces the amount of carbon embedded into the concrete, saving over 76 tonnes of CO2 overall.
John F Hunt, working for HS2’s station Construction Partner, Mace Dragados joint venture, completed the 232 m3 concrete pour in early September.
The EFC product, supplied by Capital Concrete, has been used as a foundation slab that will support polymer silos used for future piling works at the north of the Euston station site. Whilst the foundation is temporary, it will be in use for two years, and historically would have been constructed with a more traditional cement-based concrete.
Mark Fenton, Carbon Manager, HS2, said:
“HS2 is at the forefront of adopting new technologies to reduce the environmental impacts of construction, and is on its way to achieving a 50 percent reduction in carbon emissions compared to traditional construction methods. Whilst there have been a lot of examples of using low carbon concrete across the project, the scale of its use at Euston station is a huge step forward in us understanding how it can be used more widely in construction going forward, reducing environmental impact for generations to come.”