URBCON Research Project
URBCON reduces the use of raw materials and the CO2 emissions from construction and maintenance of buildings and infrastructure in cities. The Cements@Sheffield team is proud to be a core participant in this project.
The URBCON project targets the use of concrete as a building material. With the focus on the metropolitan areas of Ghent, Rotterdam and Northern France, by-products such as metallic slags and incineration ashes are used as alternative raw materials for the production of concrete. Replacing primary raw materials with by-products could save an estimated 84 million tonnes of mineral building materials per year.
The main objectives of the project are:
- Development of concretes with 100% by-product (aggregates) as well as with clinker-efficient cements;
- Networking of by-product providers and construction industry by means of a web-based platform for forecasting availability and considering the logistical chains underlying the construction demand;
- Testing of the concretes developed in the project (URBCON concretes) on the basis of three pilot projects (including a school building in Ghent);
- Preparation of a Strategic Technology Transfer Plan: proposals for policy frameworks, life cycle assessments, pre-normative work, economic feasibility studies.
The consortium combines world-leading know-how in by-product based construction minerals, supplementary cementitious materials, alkali-activated binders, high-alumina cement, digital mapping of resources, and life cycle assessment and costing.
Full details are at www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/urbcon-by-products-for-sustainable-concrete-in-the-urban-environment/