Westminster City Council King Street Low Carbon Trial - Client Report

It is this demand that demonstrates to suppliers that clients and contractors are serious about the climate emergency and are determined to push for more emission-free solutions. Increasing this demand will rely upon client groups working together and sharing knowledge. There will be an increased cost burden, but procurement tenders can be written to stipulate low carbon options and thereby reduce the long-term costs. Specifications and standard details will also need to be reviewed to allow the increased use of low carbon materials. It will also mean that contractors will need to work harder in identifying solutions to assist the clients but also in working with the supply chain to revolutionise the market, shifting the culture of the whole industry in the same direction. Ultimately both clients and contractors are only going to work with approved suppliers who are committed to sustainability. The second part of this puts the onus on the supply chain to innovate and start mass-producing non- fossil fuel plant and machinery. Until the supply can meet the demand, the costs are going to remain relatively high when compared to the diesel alternatives. Further challenges for the supply chain include:

• High research and development costs

• Relative low value of materials

• Getting the right knowledge, understanding and skills into their teams

• Production of carbon information and benchmarking

• Changing poor perception of low carbon alternatives

Current specifications tend to focus on virgin materials and the preference is for improvements to look new, particularly around expensive developments. These materials tend to be high carbon content, cementitious products or expensive natural stone such as granite imported from China with heavy carbon transportation costs. For the embodied carbon in materials there is not a lot of alternatives to these high carbon, cementitious products. Again, the supply chain is going to need to match these demands. However, any new materials will need to be fit for purpose and go through rigorous testing and monitoring regimes. More thought needs to go into the reuse of and substituting of recycled materials for new primary materials, particularly those coming from great distances, as well as further development of low carbon concretes and other alternatives to make further carbon savings. Good design is key to this exercise and by using the carbon calculator much of the carbon can be designed out of the job at an early stage. Power on the network was one of the major risks to the success of this project. The electric vehicles and plant need a local charging point, and if this is not readily available, either a new electrical feed or a mobile power source are required. If there is an issue with the power source, it can affect the whole programme of the scheme. Further work is required with the Westminster Electric Vehicle Charging team to try and ensure that there are enough points across the City to power the equipment. Furthermore, there are still outside factors that challenge the aspiration of zero carbon. Most power stations still produce over 40% of electricity in this country, and until 100% is produced by renewable sources there will always be a residual amount of carbon in anything we do. Due to the nature of highway works it is unlikely that most projects will reach carbon zero by 2030. However, it is hoped that both the operational carbon will be negligible and that the embodied carbon will be low enough that carbon offsetting could be considered to make the works carbon neutral.

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