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Seminar Spotlight

The UK Concrete Show offered seminars to educate, enrich and engage all visitors. Sessions at The Concrete Connect Seminar Theatre, were free to attend and can now be enjoyed – wherever you are.  Enhance your knowledge through sessions focused on the latest trends, best practices, and regulatory updates in the concrete and construction sector, supported by key industry bodies.

  • Decarbonising the UK concrete industry: an update

    14/05/2024 14:47 | Seminar Spotlight
    Elaine provides an overview of the action being taken and recent progress on the industry’s roadmap for decarbonisation. It includes action on transport; energy use and fuel switching; carbon capture, use and storage, as well as development of standards for greater use of powdered limestone and reclaimed clay and other innovation.
  • A model linking compressive strength and porosity in ternary system: metakaolin, limestone, cement

    14/05/2024 14:36 | Seminar Spotlight
    Replacing traditional cement with high clinker content swiftly reduces mortar and concrete's carbon footprint, as cement accounts for 70% of it. Research suggests limestone and metakaolin could replace current clinker production. Studying binary systems (limestone/cement and metakaolin/cement) reveals their impact on flow and compressive strength. A model correlates compressive strength with porosity, showing limestone and metakaolin accelerate clinker hydration, boosting early strength in proportion to their surface area.
  • Concrete2Concrete recycling: bringing low carbon and circular solutions to the concrete industry through technology transfer

    14/05/2024 14:22 | Seminar Spotlight
    John highlights why concrete recycling is important and why the current situation is inadequate to meet the future needs of developers. He discusses how Xeroc has explored various technologies before it was satisfied that old concrete could effectively be separated into its constituent materials to enable recycling. John will explain the recent innovate UK trial and its results.
  • Ecoshot low carbon shotcrete: preparing the sprayed concrete industry for the changes to CEMI production in the UK

    14/05/2024 14:10 | Seminar Spotlight
    Shotcrete Services is renowned for its expertise in sprayed concrete design and construction, in both civil engineering and tunnelling industries completing high-profile projects including Selfridges, Birmingham, the Darwin Cocoon in the Natural History Museum extension, London. Stuart shares his latest pioneering research with an overview on the use of GGBS combined with powdered accelerator to reduce embodied carbon within accelerated sprayed concrete. 
  • Prevention "and" cure: solutions for challenging environments

    14/05/2024 13:59 | Seminar Spotlight
    With an increased focus on sustainability and ageing existing infrastructure, the construction industry needs materials with better durability, offering long term solutions that also allow the rehabilitation and reuse of existing assets while delivering lower carbon and environmental footprints and more resilience. Calcium aluminate concretes and mortars provide long term protection from combinations of heat, abrasion, and chemical environments.
  • Self-healing concrete for underground construction

    14/05/2024 13:52 | Seminar Spotlight
    Recent research into innovative bio-self-healing concrete has largely focused on above-ground structures. However, underground structures, such as tunnels and water tanks, face unique challenges due to their interaction with soil environments, which can also offer a solution.
  • Where concrete repair and sustainability meet

    14/05/2024 13:45 | Seminar Spotlight
    As UK industry moves towards 2050 carbon targets, the built environment clearly has a significant part to play. With this in mind, Craig Hannam and Deiniol Williams of Fosroc UK & ROI speak about incorporating concrete repair and restoration into a carbon emission reduction strategy, taking into account the ‘whole life’ carbon cycle.
  • All matters concrete

    14/05/2024 13:37 | Seminar Spotlight
    A guide to The Concrete Society, your route to independent advice, support on all matters concrete past, present and future, and including a UK wide network of technical and social networking events.
  • Recent advances in graphene enhanced concrete

    14/05/2024 13:24 | Seminar Spotlight
    Graphene is a one-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice which was first isolated from graphite at The University of Manchester in 2004. Over the past 20 years scientists at the University of Manchester have found that it is possible to utilize graphene’s unique properties across a range of products and applications.
  • Innovation: driving a more sustainable concrete future

    14/05/2024 12:35 | Seminar Spotlight
    We have become used to the idea that concrete has a large carbon footprint, but does that really have to be the case? Ian argues that we already know how to make concrete with much lower carbon footprint and significantly better resource efficiency. We are seeing innovation progress in 4 key areas and taken together these developments offer the prospect that for at least some applications we may be able to reach carbon neutrality or even net sequestration of CO2.
  • Concrete evolution: unleashing digital tools for low-carbon construction

    14/05/2024 12:27 | Seminar Spotlight
    This session explores the intersection of digital innovation and sustainability, focusing on low-carbon concrete. Gain insights on cutting-edge technologies, showcasing how digital tools enhance decision-making, improve project performance and mitigate risks. Learn how these tools enable the use of low-carbon concrete, reducing environmental footprints.
  • Developing concrete products in a sustainable and cost-effective eco-system

    14/05/2024 12:17 | Seminar Spotlight
    The question for most concrete product manufacturers is, "is it really possible to deliver more for less?" Can we ever achieve this 'Holy Grail' of matching existing performance with real green credentials, and maintain or reduce the cost to the customer? This presentation looks at some of the more viable potential solutions for delivery of, or at least a glimpse, of the 'Holy Grail'.
  • Seratech: Transforming CO2 into Sustainable Cement

    14/05/2024 11:18 | Seminar Spotlight
    Sam gives an overview of Seratech’s approach to decarbonise cement production. Seratech is a spin-out company from Imperial College London that mineralises CO2 within naturally abundant magnesium silicates to produce a siliceous supplementary cementitious material (SCM) for use in ready mix concrete, and magnesium carbonate – a binder for concrete products. Sam outlines the technology and Seratech’s route to large-scale market adoption in the UK and Europe to realise their target of mitigating 10Mt of CO2 per year by 2033.
  • Addressing the “S” of ESG for concrete batch plants

    14/05/2024 09:55 | Seminar Spotlight
    James’ presentation discusses what ‘social’ means in practice for batch plants, the challenges associated with understanding how to create better, cleaner and safer conditions at each of the UK’s nearly 2,000 batch plants, and three of the main problems that must be addressed – dust, cleaning and manual interventions. Using case studies and testimonials from plant managers, James ultimately explores how we can make the lives of batchers better – and how this benefits the industry as a whole.
  • MP Connect delivering safer outcomes

    14/05/2024 09:30 | Seminar Spotlight
    The Mineral Products Qualifications Council (MPQC) has developed and administer the MP Connect system to support the Mineral Products Sector in delivering safer and healthier outcomes. MP Connect is a state-of-the-art application that offers a fully integrated learner management system and will ultimately replace the amount of safety cards that drivers and contractors are required to carry.
  • Safety leadership is not just about health & safety

    14/05/2024 08:54 | Seminar Spotlight
    Safety leadership should not be simply Health & Safety focussed – why not I hear you ask? There are many differing factors to consider when evaluating the safety of your organisation, which when you very clearly understand, plan for, do and reflect can make Health & Safety an integral day to day norm.
  • Concrete wash water: best practice

    14/05/2024 08:41 | Seminar Spotlight
    What is concrete wash water, how is it produced and why you should be concerned. Review of the Health Safety & Environmental risks associated with the production, storage, treatment and reuse of concrete wash water. Including guidance on options for treatment and off-site disposal (What is the correct EWC Code?).