Over 40% CO₂e Savings at Old Whittington STW
Reducing embodied carbon is an increasingly critical challenge across the construction and infrastructure sectors. Traditional concrete solutions remain a major contributor to global emissions, with the concrete industry responsible for up to 8% of worldwide man-made CO₂ emissions. Against this backdrop, alternative construction materials that can deliver equivalent performance with a lower carbon footprint are becoming essential.
At Old Whittington Sewage Treatment Works (STW) in Chesterfield, Concrete Canvas® GCCM provided a lower-carbon alternative to conventional poured concrete for slope protection — achieving over 40% carbon savings compared to the traditional solution.
In response to the growing environmental impact of construction, the UK Government’s Construction 2025 strategy set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment by 50%. Meeting this target requires both manufacturers and asset owners to rethink material selection, construction methods, and whole-life environmental performance.
Replacing poured concrete with Concrete Canvas® offers a practical route to reducing embodied carbon without compromising durability or structural performance.
To quantify the environmental benefits of Concrete Canvas®, Concrete Canvas Ltd appointed Ricardo Environment & Energy Ltd to undertake a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of its products. As part of the assessment, a model was created allowing Concrete Canvas® GCCMs to be evaluated against traditional ST4 (20MPa) poured concrete in real-world erosion control and slope protection applications.
For the Old Whittington STW project, site-specific data was used to compare the use of CC5® with a 100mm thick ST4 poured concrete solution, assuming the concrete could be sourced from a location 10km from site.
The assessment measured Global Warming Potential (GWP) in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per square metre using a cradle-to-grave system boundary. This approach accounts for all upstream processes associated with raw material extraction, core manufacturing processes including energy use, and downstream processes such as transport to site, installation, use, removal and end-of-life disposal.
The results clearly demonstrate the carbon advantage of Concrete Canvas®. CC5® was shown to have an embodied carbon value of 15.81 kg CO₂e per square metre, compared to 28.02 kg CO₂e per square metre for the ST4 poured concrete alternative. This equates to a Global Warming Potential saving of over 40% when CC5® is used in place of traditional poured concrete for slope protection at Old Whittington STW.
By significantly reducing embodied carbon at both the material production and installation stages, Concrete Canvas® supports asset owners and contractors in meeting sustainability targets while delivering long-term performance.