The Mineral Products Association has appointed former Cemex communications and public affairs director Martin Casey as senior director for cement and lime, succeeding Diana Casey after more than 20 years with the producer and a year consulting for the MPA on government engagement. His appointment comes as UK cement imports have tripled in two decades while domestic output has fallen to a 75‑year low, intensifying pressure on local kilns and clinker capacity. New EU carbon border charges this year are expected to divert more global cement shipments towards the UK, sharpening competitiveness and carbon‑policy risks for domestic producers.

Wienerberger’s Denton brickworks will become the world’s first commercial‑scale hydrogen‑fired brick plant after securing UK Industrial Energy Transformation Fund backing for a £6m retrofit of two tunnel kilns from natural gas to 100% green hydrogen. The project will replace 224 gas burners, add dedicated hydrogen offloading and pressure‑reduction infrastructure supplied for 15 years by Trafford Green Hydrogen via tube trailers, and upgrade electrical and control systems without altering kiln structures. One fully converted kiln, or two partially converted, is targeted by autumn 2027, with full hydrogen firing from 2028 cutting CO₂ by over 11,600 tonnes per year (around 9% of Wienerberger Limited’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions).

Nordic–Dutch startup Paebbl is producing an olivine-based cement substitute via accelerated CO2 mineralisation in low-energy reactors, claiming a net negative footprint of –14.4kg CO2‑equivalent per tonne (cradle-to-gate) and storage of about 21kg CO2 per m³ of concrete at typical replacement rates. The material has moved from gramme-scale tests to an operational pilot in 18 months and has already been used in a Rotterdam quay wall grout by Hakkers, the 1917 Veerhuis restoration, and a 7m-span “carbon-neutral” concrete footbridge by Heijmans. Classified as CCUS, the process permanently binds captured industrial CO2 into stable carbonate minerals that remain locked in even after demolition, offering structural-grade, carbon-storing concrete mixes rather than purely low-embodied-carbon variants.