Holcim’s sustainable concrete in Digbeth: design and carbon notes for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Holcim UK has secured the readymix contract for the Smithfield Lofts apartments in Digbeth, part of the £1.9bn Smithfield regeneration, supplying ECOPact low-carbon concrete mixes including a watertight grade to prevent water ingress. A 160m³ pour in November 2025 formed foundations for the crane platform and columns up to first floor level on the former Birmingham Wholesale Market site. By replacing the original CEM I-based specification reviewed by Velcol Groundworks and O’Connor Sutton Cronin, the ECOPact mixes cut embodied carbon by 429 tonnes CO₂e.
Technical Brief
- ECOPact mixes were benchmarked against an original CEM I baseline to quantify embodied carbon savings.
- Carbon reduction was reported as 429,093 kgCO₂e, giving a precise project-level emissions delta.
- Principal contractor Prosperity Wealth coordinates Smithfield Lofts within the £1.9 billion Smithfield regeneration programme.
- Masterplan delivery is managed by Lendlease in joint venture with Birmingham City Council on the brownfield market site.
- Velcol Groundworks and structural engineer O’Connor Sutton Cronin jointly reviewed and revised the original concrete specification.
Our Take
Holcim UK’s role at the £1.9 billion Smithfield regeneration in Birmingham lines up with its other UK infrastructure wins in our database, such as the London Luton Airport runway resurfacing, signalling that clients now see its lower‑carbon mixes as bankable on high-profile transport and urban schemes.
The 429 t CO₂e saving on the Smithfield Lofts pour is consistent with Holcim UK’s wider decarbonisation push, which in our coverage also includes deploying electric LiuGong loaders in its quarry fleet and elevating a dedicated managing director for recycling to hard‑wire lower‑carbon materials into supply chains.
For Birmingham City Council and Lendlease, using Holcim UK’s sustainable concrete at Digbeth creates an early reference project that could influence specification standards across other large UK city-centre redevelopments tracked in our 859‑item Infrastructure corpus, especially where councils are tightening embodied‑carbon targets.
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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