Heidelberg UK CO₂‑injected concrete: performance and design notes for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Heidelberg Materials UK is trialling CarbonCure technology in ready-mixed concrete at its Greenwich plant in London, injecting pure manufactured CO₂ into fresh concrete where it mineralises permanently and allows around 5% less cement to be used. The process is claimed to cut concrete-associated emissions by 7–11 kg CO₂/m³ with no loss of performance, while potentially increasing strength through more efficient hydration. The Thameside plant also supplies calcined clay, evoBuild low carbon GGBS, crushed concrete, accelerators and evoZero near‑zero cement, positioning it as a low‑carbon materials hub.
Technical Brief
- Mineralised CO₂ is claimed to remain locked in even after future demolition and recycling of the concrete.
- Heidelberg states the retrofit is “easily integrated” into existing batching operations, implying minimal disruption to plant layout.
- The Greenwich Thameside site concurrently supplies calcined clay, evoBuild low‑carbon GGBS and crushed concrete for blended mixes.
- evoZero, described as a carbon‑captured near‑zero cement, is also available from the same plant for mix optimisation.
- Chemical accelerators offered at Greenwich allow early‑strength control alongside CO₂ injection and SCM substitution strategies.
Our Take
The 5% average cement reduction enabled by CarbonCure at Heidelberg Materials UK’s Greenwich and Thameside plants is modest but material, as our database shows most low-clinker or SCM-based concretes in the UK market still target similar single‑digit cement cuts to stay within conservative performance specifications.
Injecting CO₂ into concrete mixes at London plants positions Heidelberg Materials UK to align with emerging embodied‑carbon requirements on large urban projects, where our coverage of other cement and concrete items indicates that project-level carbon accounting is starting to differentiate suppliers on major UK and North American builds.
Combining CO₂ injection with calcined clay in the same product family gives Heidelberg Materials a pathway to stack decarbonisation levers, which in practice can make it easier to meet future tightening of UK or EU cement-clinker ratio limits without relying solely on traditional fly ash or slag supplies.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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