Zero Emission Technologies. Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Materials for UK Railway

Masterarbeit , 2019 , 104 Seiten , Note: 2,1

BWL - Allgemeines

The information collected in this thesis provides an awareness to the reader of the significance of carbon emissions generated by infrastructure developments in the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) stages and more specifically with focus on HS2, the largest ever railway project to go ahead in the UK.

The research supports ways of achieving a carbon friendly railway infrastructure moving into the future by finding solutions in capital and operational carbon reduction to heavily reduce the UK’s carbon footprint. The details of this, include research sources in material processing alternatives, recycling or reuse of materials, renewable energy sources and cultural challenges. Research has provided evidence that a cost saving is linked to reducing operational carbon emissions adding an additional incentive to focusing on improving the environment. A carbon maturity matrix shows a level of focus, which organisations should review and adhere to in the future. Many of the recommendations in the study are based around the changing of political and cultural ways to achieve the changes required and bring in new innovative ways of thinking to start the process of becoming Eco-Friendly within Infrastructure.

CONTENTS

AWKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

CONTENTS

REVISION HISTORY

KEY ABBREIVATIONS

1.1 Parties:
1.2 Methods:
1.3 Miscellaneous:

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Environment
1.2 UK Transport

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
2.2 CO2 Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
2.3 Importance of material selection in design
2.4 Reducing CO2 emissions in concrete
2.5 Recycling Material & Waste Management
2.6 Sustainability in the Railway
2.7 The Concept and Design of HS2 Ltd
2.8 HS2 Estimated Costs
2.9 HS2 Track Formation
2.10 Cost saving link to reducing CO2 emissions
2.11 Summary

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Research Processing
3.3 Research Design
3.4 Research Philosophy
3.5 Research Strategy
3.6 Research Methods
3.7 Primary and Secondary Data Collection
3.8 Primary Research Approach
3.9 Secondary Research Approach
3.10 Sampling
3.11 Ethical Considerations
3.12 Summary

CHAPTER 4 SURVEY OF CURRENT PRACTICE & KNOWLEDGE
4.1 Ethic Clearance
4.2 Public Online Survey Data (Structured)
4.3 Interviews
4.4 Conclusion

CHAPTER 5 CASE STUDIES
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Concrete Processing & Recycling
5.3 Opportunities in reducing CO2 in infrastructure
5.4 HS2 Overview
5.5 Track Sub-ballast
5.6 Alternative materials for Railway Sleepers
5.7 Cost savings achieved in Carbon Reduction
5.8 Sustainable Innovative Technologies
5.9 Renewable Energy in Construction

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1 Discussion
6.2 Conclusion
6.3 Recommendations for industry and research

CHAPTER 7 REFERENCES

CHAPTER 8 APPENDIX A - TABLES & DATA

CHAPTER 9 APPENDIX B - REPORTS & SUPPORTING INFORMATION

CHAPTER 10 ETHICAL CLEARANCE NOTIFICATION

REVISION HISTORY

This document will be updated when necessary by issue of the complete document.

The amendments or additional parts will be marked by a black line in the right outside margin.

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AWKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am sincerely and heartily grateful to my supervisor, Neil Dixon, Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at Loughborough University for the support and guidance he has provided me throughout writing this thesis. The quality and focus could not have been possible without his help.

Besides, I would like to thank my partner and children for their patience and providing key morale boosting in the difficult hours spent piecing the research documents together.

Finally, I would like to show my gratitude for all of those who wish to stay anonymous in completing the online survey and providing insightful feedback on sustainability.

ABSTRACT

The information collated in this thesis provides an awareness to the reader of the significance of carbon emissions generated by infrastructure developments in the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) stages and more specifically with focus on HS2 the largest ever railway project to go ahead in the UK.

The research supports ways of achieving a carbon friendly railway infrastructure moving into the future by finding solutions in capital and operational carbon reduction to heavily reduce the UK’s carbon footprint. The details of this, include research sources in material processing alternatives, recycling or reuse of materials, renewable energy sources and cultural challenges. Research has provided evidence that a cost saving is linked to reducing operational carbon emissions adding an additional incentive to focusing on improving the environment.

A carbon maturity matrix shows a level of focus in which organisations should review and adhere to in the future. Many of the recommendations in the study are based around the changing of political and cultural ways to achieve the changes required and bring in new innovative ways of thinking to start the process of becoming Eco-Friendly within Infrastructure.

KEY ABBREIVATIONS

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 Life Cycle Assessment -showing a product footprint (Cabeza, 2014)

Figure 2.2 - LCA example of product system from BS ISO 14040:2006 (ISO, 2006)

Figure 2.3 - Largest CO2 Emitting Countries; (Olivier Jos GJ., Greet Janssens-Maenhout, Marilena Muntean, 2013)

Figure 2.4- Reduction of limestone use and CO2 Emissions (Oh et al., 2014)

Figure 2.5- LCA comparison between Road and Railway Development (Yasutomo MORITA, 2012)

Figure 2.6- Divided Construction Elements (Cut and Cover Example) (Yasutomo MORITA, 2012)

Figure 2.7- - HS2 Diagram (SWECO, 2011)

Figure 3.1 - A Framework for Design - The Interconnection of worldviews, Strategies of Inquiry, and Research Methods (Creswell, 2009)

Figure 3.2- Research Onion (Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, 2007)

Figure 4.1 - Pie Chart of job description breakdown based on the online survey (Newton, 2019)

Figure 4.2 Bar Chart of participants recycling (Newton, 2019)

Figure 4.3 - A pie chart to show the % of support from participant organisations (Newton, 2019)

Figure 4.4 - A pie chart to show the % of participants organisations sustainable, embedded processes (Newton, 2019)

Figure 4.5 - A pie chart to show the survey participants choice of sustainable energy (Newton, 2019)

Figure 4.6 - A bar chart to show the participants response to HS2 (Newton, 2019)

Figure 4.7 - A Bar Chart to show the % of whether the government provides enough awareness (Newton, 2019)

Figure 4.8 - A bar chart to show the Ozone Layer response from participants (Newton, 2019)

Figure 5.1 - Concrete Processing (CEMBUREAU, 2014)

Figure 5.2 Life Cycle Analysis for Concrete (CEMBUREAU, 2014)

Figure 5.3 diagram to show how reusing DIBM and WCP can reduce CO2 emissions in cement processing (Oh et al., 2014)

Figure 5.4 Cross section of ballast less track on piles (Ingenieure, 2017)

Figure 5.4 results of plate test loading using a 150mm thickness of sub-ballast (Indraratna, Sun and Grant, 2017)

Figure 5.5 - Track Geometry Sub-ballast with Rubber tyre reinforced capping (Indraratna, Sun and Grant, 2017)

Figure 5.6 - Glass fibre reinforced polymer concrete sleeper (Ghorban, 2013)

Figure 5.7 Top View of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Infrastructure Development (NLD, 2012)

Figure 5.8 - Electro-osmosis Example showing steel tubes positioned (EKG, 2012)

Figure 5.9 Carbon Reduction Potential (ICR, 2018)

Figure 5.10 - Award winning Dura Composite platform(Stuart Burns, 2015)

Figure 5.11 Makeup of Dura Composite Platform (Stuart Burns, 2015)

Figure 5.12 An image of Maidenhead Sidings Platform example (Dura, 2018)

Figure 5.13 - image or smoke from coal power plant chimneys (UCS, 2017)

Figure 5.14 Renewable Energy project in the UK (Greenmatch,2016)

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Definition of Philosophy types (Creswell, 2009)

Table 3.2 - Primary Vs Secondary Research data (Hox, J.J. and Boeije, 2005)

Table 3.3 - List of interviewees to support the study

Table 5.1 - CO2 Emission factors for concrete production (Flower, D.J.M., Sanjayan, 2007)

Table 5.2 - estimated CCF (Khatib, 2016)

Table 5.3 - Comparison of sleeper materials (Ghorban, 2013)

Table 5.4 Pros and Cons of Slab Track vs Ballast Track (Stone, 2019)

Table 5.5 Recent developments of alternative sleeper materials (Manalo et al.,

Table 5.6 Recycled sleeper technologies

Table 6.1 - Carbon maturity matrix (HM Treasury, 2013)

Table 6.2 Carbon maturity matrix (HM Treasury, 2013)

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Environment

The importance of reducing the carbon footprint is significant in today’s society to ensure the living conditions for future generations are not jeopardised, as pollution continues to deteriorate the planet, there is a sense that the public are not fully aware of the long-term damage caused by pollution.

The excessive CO2 that traps the suns heat energy in the atmospheric bubble, warms the planet and oceans resulting in changes to weather patterns and harming the future habitats of the surrounding environment. In 2017, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated that humans release 30 billion tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere each year. The consequences of this means that each CO2 molecule may last for up to 200 years (EPA, 2017).

1.2 UK Transport

Increasing amounts of cars on the road causing traffic congestions, inefficiency of energy consumption on short haul flights and transport systems locally, regionally and globally populated using fossil fuel energy provides an incentive to move over to the railway that is starting to offer a more environmentally friendly and efficient way to travel. (Smith, 2001)

The railway first opened to the UK public in 1825 and now covers 15,000 miles with 2,560 stations; the UK is the fifth busiest railway in the world with an estimated 1.7 billion journeys made every year. (Smith, 2001). The railway was not always the cleanest way to travel but as electrification projects in the UK continue to feed the lines with overhead line equipment (OLE) there is a shift from diesel trains to electric and further into Bio-mode. The railway now offers an opportunity to become a greener way of travelling over other public transportation methods.

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

Reducing carbon emissions is a widely discussed topic throughout the world, initial research suggests that many overseas countries have focused within the construction industry on solutions to reduce the carbon footprint due to the construction industry being one of the largest culprits for emitting CO2 emissions.

In the last decade, there has been significant pressure from the UK Government in trying to tackle the issue in hand by writing countless reports and setting out targets to achieve a more sustainable, friendly environment.

This year (2019), the committee on climate control (CCC) has stated that a target has been set for zero carbon by 2050 which is both necessary and achievable; however, in order to deliver the target in a method that will maintain the public support, it may require looking towards more innovation to keep costs of transition manageable and the necessary behaviour changes acceptable (Walker, 2019). This was part of a statement released by the executive director of the Environmental Industries commission, Mathew Farrow written on the behalf of the CCC.

The construction industry is responsible for approx. 45% of CO2 emissions in the UK, broken down by 27% from domestic buildings and 18% from non-domestic buildings (Board, 2014). The urgency to find more suitable environmentally friendly solutions will be invaluable in moving towards a zero-carbon footprint. The research collated in the literature review covers initial aspects of a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), material selection process, reducing CO2 emissions and recycling material. The research then focuses towards the railway in the topics of HS2, railway sustainability, processors and cost benefits.

2.2 CO2 Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) can be defined by the compiling and evaluating of elements to achieve inputs, outputs and any environmental impacts of a product in its life cycle (ISO, 2006). An LCA is invaluable when reviewing all elements in environmental management and helps with providing clarity and results. Generally, there are three steps within a generic LCA these include:

-Goals and Scope Definition (establishes functional unit and system boundaries criteria for inventory)
-Life Cycle Inventory (Generally input and output requirements.)
-Life Cycle Impact Assessment (Categorises the environmental impact)

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Figure 2.1 Life Cycle Assessment -showing a product footprint (Cabeza, 2014)

Figure 2.1 shows an easy to follow visual process diagram for the typical footprint within the LCA. A more detailed LCA example can be seen in Figure 2.2 which is an extract from the BS ISO 14040:2006 standard for environmental management (life cycle assessment principles and framework showing a typical product system LCA). In the systems boundary the start of the process is raw material acquisition moving into production and use. The recycling and waste treatment processors reset where the product falls within the LCA. Throughout the process Energy is consumed and linked to transport.

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Figure 2.2 - LCA example of product system from BS ISO 14040:2006 (ISO, 2006)

The construction industry can be compared to the process layout in Figure 2.2 especially in considering the LCA of materials. Below stipulates some of the many sustainability concerns in the typical life cycle phases of construction, products and materials.

Raw Material Extraction

According to Calkins, more than 3 billion metric tonnes of raw materials are used for manufacturing global annuum (Calkins, 2009). Processing these materials can have extremely high levels of CHG emissions. It has been stated that just 1kg of Aluminium can result in 15kg of CO2 emissions. (Gutowski, 2004)

Manufacturing

A substantial amount of energy is required during processing and manufacturing stages; however, often there is not the consideration for all chemical and solvents that can have permanent, harmful effects on the environment (Khatib, 2016).

Transport

Freight activities can be accountable for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) during the product life cycle and can contribute to almost 23% of related CO2 emissions. (Khatib, 2016)

Recycling

It is estimated that around 40% of all construction waste is nonrecyclable; that is not to say many of the reclamation and recycled material do not have potential to be reutilised. According to Calkins, using recycled material could save between 12% and 40% of total energy used for material production (Calkins, 2009).

Usage

The user will need to consider the life span of product (in this case infrastructure) the materials used contribute directly to the energy performance. IPCC (IPCC, Inergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014) stated that in 2010 construction accounted for 32% of total global energy and 19% specifically related to GHG emissions.

There are many topics of focus when it comes to the LCA in construction as the process characterises the environmental impacts starting with raw materials and ending with disposal. In this cycle it is important to understand the embodied energy to the final product. This is the sum of energy combined during the life cycle to obtain a final product.

This is crucial point that often can be overlooked construction as many energies inputs usually focus on only one aspect within the LCA when linking to GHG. The typical approach measures the emissions by comparing the amount of energy produced or saved by the product versus the amount of energy used to produce it.

An example can be concrete, one of the most readily-available materials in the world and a necessary building material. A standard 180 square metre detached family home requires approximately 17 tons of concrete (NAHB, 2015). The concrete has gone through a long journey way before arriving at the construction site.

The first stage is extraction of raw material before being manufactured by adding the Portland cement or equivalent in the calcination process. The next steps would then mean delivery and transportation to the construction site. Use, maintenance and repair of the product are other elements to consider before finally disposal or recycling when the building comes to the end of its life. In this journey the concrete is exposed to large amounts of embodied energy during processing, manufacturing and transportation.

The LCA is integrated into other strategies such as Life Cycle Cost (LCC) which can be the priority to many organisations when reviewing environmentally friendly solutions against profit margins. The selection of materials; economic and environmental factors can be ascertained from the use of combining LCA with LCC. The selection of materials can be determined by regional or geographical differences, project budgets and non-sustainability performance requirements (Cabeza, 2014).

2.3 Importance of material selection in design

Suitable construction materials need to be closely considered in the very early stages of the planning and conceptual design; initial selection processing starts as early as RIBA 2 conceptual design. To be successful in implementing zero carbon or reduced carbon policies, decisions need to be made in advance of final designs.

Many principle designers are constrained by tight timescales and dictated by the client this can result in very little consideration to the use of sustainable materials or materials that could reduce the CO2 impact on the environment (HM Treasury, 2013).

The client’s requirements are almost always for the best performing structure and therefore why would the designers jeopardise their design using additional time, effort and money in finding alternative material replacements, more environmentally friendly?

If the material selection provides more focus on reducing the carbon footprint there is actually potential to avoid 38 tonnes of CO2 emissions on a 526m[2] building, which is equivalent to 72kg of CO2 per built m[2]. (Garci, 2006). A study was undertaken in Spain to review the possibility of reducing CO2 emissions by up to 30% in the construction phase through carefully selecting environmentally friendly materials.

The study was successful mainly because the designer was given the opportunity to undertake important decisions early in defining low environmental impact materials while aligning the selection against a bio climatic design. This material selection process is crucial to save energy leading to reduced CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the study provided evidence that 27.78% of CO2 emissions could be saved on every house. (Garci, 2006).

The significant saving of CO2 emissions discovered in the study provides evidence that by using alternative materials, such as natural materials like cork and wood over concrete and Aluminium will support in reducing the carbon footprint. For more information on construction materials with estimated CO2 emissions, please refer to the table shown in CHAPTER 8 appendices.

2.4 Reducing CO2 emissions in concrete

Concrete is the common and widely used building material on the planet, the makeup of concrete consists of aggregate, cement, water, SCMs, minerals and chemical admixtures. The

Arguably, the most widely used building material in the world is concrete; the makeup of concrete is a mixture of aggregate, cement, water, SCMs and/or minerals and chemical admixtures.

Cement comprises from a mix of clinker and gypsum or calcium sulphate. (Khatib, 2016). Unfortunately, only a small amount of research has been undertaken in finding solutions to reduce the huge amounts of CO2 produced by the cement industry mainly in carbon capturing and storage (CCS) technology.

It is estimated that cement could be responsible for up to 70% of the total global energy consumption and CO2 emissions within the construction industry. (Oh et al., 2014). The countries with the highest emissions can be seen in Figure 2.1 on the next page.

Figures have suggested that the concrete industry could be responsible for 12-15% of the total industrial energy usage, which results in almost 7% of the total worldwide CO2 emissions due to fossil fuel burning (approximately 1.8Gt of CO2 emissions annually). (Deja J, Uliasz-Bochenczyk A, 2010)

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Figure 2.3 - Largest CO2 Emitting Countries; (Olivier Jos GJ., Greet Janssens-Maenhout, Marilena Muntean, 2013)

A journal source from ‘Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews’ provides information on a study undertaken by the Japanese Cement Industry on methods to reduce CO2 emissions with the reuse of building material waste. The calcination process in kilns has an estimated accountability for 60% of all emissions from the cement production (Oh et al., 2014). The study evaluates the chemical components of building materials, demolished inorganic building materials (DIBM) and waste concrete powder (WCP). Following the assessment, the study then proposes the opportunity of using DIBMs as a substitute material with limestone. Through the process of cement production, the quality of disposed waste and use of limestone will be reduced; consequently reducing the amount of CO2 emissions (Oh et al., 2014).

The chosen method of achieving this was simply recycling DIBMs and WCP as a cement substitute material then evaluating the trialled recycled cement. The results from mortar specimens of the recycled cement were seen to have high compressive strengths following testing detailed in the summary.

Mix 1 WCP

Mix 2 CS and CSB

Mix 3 CSB, brick and oxidised steel

Mix 4 ALC tile and CS

Waste Concrete Powder (WCP) Calcium Silicate Boards (CSB) Cement Siding (CS)

Autoclaved lightweight concrete (ALC)

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Figure 2.4 Reduction of limestone use and CO2 Emissions (Oh et al., 2014)

Figure 2.4 provides evidence that alternative materials can be used that could significantly benefit the environment. The most significant saving can be seen in Mix 2 using brick, oxidised steel and CSB.

Summary of reducing CO2 in Concrete

In Summary, the study provides evidence that CO2 emissions can be dramatically reduced during the calcination process, this will be a significant improvement if concrete production companies adopt the methodologies set out in the journal. It seems further research will be required in testing the properties of concrete when using alternative mixes, but this breakthrough could provide a simple route forward that may not even effect changes to existing processing equipment, cost increases or unemployment.

2.5 Recycling Material & Waste Management

The demolition of old buildings, roads and general infrastructure can result in large quantities of waste material. In the past, this waste was disposed in landfill sites, nowadays, waste materials are becoming increasing valuable. Unfortunately, some construction materials are still being classed as waste, even though the material can be reclaimed and re-introduced as a different product within construction. It is important that more opportunities become available to offer recycling on every material in the future, which may not eradicate the need to keep producing more of the same material but will certainly go some way to slowing it down.

Waste management is becoming increasingly popular, not only as the ability to generate revenue, but in the fact that it offers an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions.

The global effect from this workstream reduces the need for mining natural aggregate or organic materials which in itself has a dramatic decrease in CO2 emissions on the planet. (Khatib, 2016).

At a residential or commercial building site, typically around 90% of materials disposed include cardboard, concrete, asphalt pavement, metal, wood and drywall (Khatib, 2016). Recycling or reuse of these materials can be overlooked in the management process, when they offer potential in providing benefits i.e. cost reductions, processing time, logistic efforts etc.

In the near future, recycling of aggregate will be influenced by the availability of landfill sites that may come about from Government mandates or the demand for a wider use of more material required in the economy (Khatib, 2016).

In the United States, The Council for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) has estimated that there could be a saving of nearly 1 billion gallons (4.5 billion litres) a year of fuel in the US if concrete and asphalt pavement was to be recycled (Cochran, 2017). A comparison of this figure would be equivalent to the removal of more than 1 million cars from the road.

The energy saving is based on the results of decreased consumption of natural resources including mining crushed stone or extracting / refining fossil fuels (Cochran, 2017).

Previous experience of working within rail infrastructure developments, has been able to show first hand some of the most sustainable products to explore, a bi product that is increasingly popular to use in infrastructure design is the use of a recycled crushed brick found on many residential demolishment’s in the UK.

The crushed brick is a product known on the market as ‘6F2’ (Mainland Aggregates, 2018) this is largely suited to a sub-ballast / hardcore for mainline rail infrastructure. The material comprises of concrete, brick and mortar which presents an ideal capping material; easily crushed and compact to offer excellent structural and drainage properties.

A capping material serves to strengthen the subgrade and often any temporary roads required from high loads of machinery and weathering. Typically, the California bearing ration (CBR) values should be approximately 15% and a standard thickness of 150mm as a minimum (Franklin, 2006). The potential savings for using a local reclaimed material over mining new material for this use could be significant for both carbon and cost reductions.

2.6 Sustainability in the Railway

The UK railway network has the potential to be one of the most sustainable methods of transport in the world, due to its low coefficient of friction between the wheel to rail interface, it requires less power if compared to the wheel to road interface of a car. Figure 2.5 shows the environmental load of cars against the load of the railway, a considerable factor in the LCA for the railway is the operation, rolling stock manufacture and infrastructure.

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Figure 2.5- LCA comparison between Road and Railway Development (Yasutomo MORITA, 2012)

Since 2016, there are now more options available in offering innovative, sustainable vehicles as the UK moves towards the Zero Carbon target detailed in 2.1. In the past two years, the operation of Road Regulation (ORR), a non-ministerial government organisation has applied pressure to operators in moving over to using Bio Mode rolling stock.

Bio mode trains are electric trains that can alternate to run in self powered mode using a large rechargeable battery pack. At present, “the emissions and energy consumption are considerably high comparatively to other transport modes” (Bressi et al., 2018). Environmentally, renewable electricity sources will become the greatest benefit to the UK. Switzerland have already harnessed large amounts of hydrogen power to operate electrified lines for many years” (Smith, 2001).

The UK rail minister, Andrew Jones has already announced the commitment to the rail network in ensuring the government is committed to decarbonising the railway and welcoming the recent introduction of the Rail Industry Decarbonisation Taskforce (RIDT) recently publishing their report on how the industry can decarbonise the railway by 2040. (Holden, 2019)

The Chief Business Officer, Simon Edwards from Innovate UK has stated that the UK rail network will be a’ vital economic asset to the nation’ long term that will allow movement for both passenger and freight in an environmentally and sustainable system, “this is the time to support new greener projects and boost the reliability of the network”. (Simon Edwards, 2019)

The Achilles heel of the infrastructure is the high cost of infrastructure; the current expense of building new lines is outweighed by the lack of return on investment (ROI) with passenger usage.

Ultimately, this means Network Rail are left struggling to improve existing routes where the geography of the routes originally was determined by historical population.

As the UK moves towards higher speed traffic, greater technical efforts are required to avoid track damage, cable damage and avoid adhesion noise, vibration and dynamic running stability of vehicles (Smith, 2001).

There is a clear gap between GHG and energy consumption, this definitely underlines the necessity for further research analysis to improve best practises in construction and maintenance of the rail infrastructure (Chester, M.V., Horvath, 2009).

Current infrastructure developments factored into the sustainability of the railway at present accounts for 43% of the total CO2 Emissions this is on the basis of a 30-year life cycle and 32% over a 50-year life cycle (Yasutomo MORITA, 2012).

The below source refers to a case study undertaken by the Japanese Railway Construction (JRC) reviewing the life cycle assessment for evaluating carbon impact on railway infrastructure developments.

The main factors responsible for the high emissions in the construction are:

-Resource Emissions - Collection and refinement of materials
-Transportation of Resources- Fuel consumption for materials and machinery.
-Construction Work - Fuel consumption of machinery.
(Yasutomo MORITA, 2012)

Figure 2.6 below shows all the top-level elements of infrastructure development divided up, with more focus on the processing of cut and cover for tunnels.

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Figure 2.6- Divided Construction Elements (Cut and Cover Example) (Yasutomo MORITA, 2012)

The Japanese study devises a way of creating an emissions factor for CO2 on each topic; the factors were created by multiplying the emission factor with the quantity of consumed material. The table of emission factors for each element can be seen in CHAPTER 8 of the appendices.

This largest infrastructure construction changes in the UK over recent years introduces the use of a concrete sleeper from the traditional timber sleepers. This was initially seen as beneficial, due to reducing the need to cut down trees, on the other hand it has the added implication of increasing an existing problem with concrete production, which is not in the public eye in being recognised for its long-term damage to the carbon footprint on the environment.

Other infrastructure materials that are harmful to the environment include the large quantities of sub-ballast required in constructing railway lines, which continually require routine upkeep and maintenance.

“The use of natural aggregate for constructing those layers represents a significant consumption of an important non-renewable resource that is becoming increasingly scarce”. (Bressi et al., 2018)

A comparative life cycle analysis was undertaken in Italy which reviewed substitute asphalt mixtures for railway sub-ballast containing alternative materials. The journal evaluates the use of Bituminous sub-ballast in the railway track bed which could have additional benefits including:

-Mitigate against variation of moisture content
-Reduce vertical stiffness variations
-Potentially a more durable infrastructure

(Bressi et al., 2018)

In 2016, a trial was undertaken using a 1km stretch of line between Florence and Viareggio using the developed rubberised asphalt mixture (Bressi et al., 2018).

The mix chosen contained Crumb Rubber (CR) production, in turn provided the opportunity to use old scrap tyres that could be passed through a granulator and slicing the tyres into fine pieces. The outcome of the trial discovered that the rubberised asphalt being used on the sub-ballast layer was not environmentally sustainable over the use of traditional asphalt mixtures.

The stretch of track is still undergoing testing with alternative mixtures; however, it was stated in the source that the processing energy for the specialist plants for obtaining the rubber grains from the scrap tyres outweighs the balance due to the asphalt containing only a small amount of CR in the mixture (1.5% - 2%) (Bressi et al., 2018).

Summary of railway sustainability

The idea of using recycled crumb rubber as an alternative to existing aggregate sub ballast is innovative, especially in the sense of the material being increasingly cost effective to acquire as tyres become more difficult and costly to dispose of. Unfortunately, the process of achieving the fine slicing of the rubber and effectively installing this onto the railway will need refining to ensure that it can become a commercially viable and environmentally friendly way of reducing existing aggregate demand.

2.7 The Concept and Design of HS2 Ltd

The UK is to embark on the largest ever Government funded, infrastructure projected known as High Speed 2 Ltd (HS2) funded by an estimated total £60 Billion investment. The scheme is split into two main phases; phase 1 is planned to be operable in 2026 and phase 2 is planned to be operable in 2033 (Stone, 2019).

The project links large cities such as Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester and Leeds to London allowing more direct routes resulting and reducing journey times by travelling at speeds of up to 250mph (400kph) (Stone, 2019).

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Figure 2.7 - HS2 Diagram (SWECO, 2011)

HS2 rail infrastructure demands the build of 330 miles of dual track infrastructure and an estimated Civils expenditure of £6.6 Billion over the next 20 years (Stone, 2019). Estimated calculations below suggest that there will be a need of nearly 20 million square meters of materials including top soil, sub-ballast and concrete.

-4m depth of top soil and aggregates (Ingenieure, 2017)
-9m (nominal) width includes the space for the dual track (Ingenieure, 2017)
-530,970m Length of track (Stone, 2019)

4m x 9m x 530,970m = 19,115,000 m[3]

Large amounts of material have the potential to offer significant opportunities to reduce CO2 emissions, through evaluating the LCA in the material selection process. Dependant on the progression of the design stage, there could be an achievable target set of around 10% of CO2 reduction when reviewing options of alternative materials, reuse of existing materials and alternative manufacturing processors.

The Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) is a method used by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) to assess the design and construction for building environmental ratings in the UK. HS2 plan to achieve an excellent rating with BREEAM for stations, depots, and any other railway buildings.

BRE provide standards for best practice in sustainable design for new construction and in turn provide an environmental performance of the constructed building.

HS2 is the first ever railway project that aims to achieve an outstanding BREEAM rating on some areas of the project for the design and construction phase (Snowhill and Queensway, 2017).

2.8 HS2 Estimated Costs

-Phase 1 is the development from London to Birmingham with an estimated mean value of £21.3Bn.
-Phase 2 is the development from Birmingham to Leeds with an estimated mean value £35.4Bn.

(HS2 Ltd, 2018)

On average just under 10% of the above costs are Civil related including Earthworks, Concrete, Formwork, Reinforcement, Structural Steel Finishing. This means a total of £6.6Bn of Civils works is required which is split into two phases which are ‘design phase’ and ‘construction phase’ (Simpson, 2018).

2.9 HS2 Track Formation

HS2 are reviewing the options of moving over to a more modern slab track approach over a traditional ballast track formation. In May 2019, New Civil Engineer published an article that specified the line leaving north of Euston station will be incredibly challenging and limited to the use of slab track designs due to gauging issues and tunnel infrastructure. The decision has not officially been released to the public but it’s thought that all the southern areas of phase 1 will be installed with slab track (New Civil Engineer, 2019).

The decision by HS2 will support the outcome on material requirement focus, as dependant on the decision there will be an increase in concrete or aggregate required.

The principle designer (WSP) will need to consider that conventional ballast track will mean a generic top soil, type 1 and ballast all required to be transported from nearby quarries (UK based). In terms of requirements this means concerns over the extraction of material, the logistics and handling associated energy consumption. Additional consideration will then need to be reviewed for installation energy consumption using ballast trains (Stone, 2019).

2.10 Cost saving link to reducing CO[2] emissions

In the November 2018 edition of New Civil Engineer, an article was written suggesting that carbon reduction can be linked with cost reductions. “For every 2% of Carbon saved there’s a corresponding 1% reduction in cost”(New Civil Engineer, 2018).

The article stipulates cutting carbon saves cost and details compelling new evidence undertaken by leading UK organisations that have had significant savings, these include organisations such as National Grid, Highways England and Anglican Water.

National Grid has been able to cut its carbon emissions by 10% every year since 2015 and Anglican Water have forecasted a 70% reduction in capital carbon by 2030. The associated cost savings are linked to 2:1 ration of carbon emissions saving.

The source for the statistics follows research developed by the ICR (The Infrastructure Carbon Review) released in a report from November 2013 now known as PAS 2080 (publicly available specification). The report provides estimations such as if all of the Infrastructure industry opted into carbon reduction strategies by leading companies, the result could bring a benefit of around £1.5 billion per year and potentially 24 million tonnes of carbon saved a year (ICR, 2018).

PAS 2080 has become the UK’s first standard and guideline for managing carbon infrastructure. The standard was compiled by the Infrastructure Carbon Review panel (ICR) and published by the BSI under the HM treasury; approved by Michael Fallon (Minister of State for Business and Energy) (HM Treasury, 2013).

In the past, the level of effort required in reducing carbon infrastructure on programmes has not had any financial incentives for companies to adopt techniques. The added financial benefits that follow the on from the report could swing more organisations into pursuing sustainable and innovative ways in reducing CO2 on future infrastructure schemes. In previous years, many financiers such as investors, banks, insurers and creditors viewed climate related projects as a large financial risk to capital and profit, as technology develops, the attitude from financiers will also need to do the same.

2.11 Summary

Below summarises some of the opportunities in reducing carbon emissions as identified in the review of literature;

-Substitute to organic Materials
-Recycle / re-use of materials (locally)
-Processing Methodology (reduced emissions / energy)
-Reduced Energy on Logistics / Transportation methods
-Consideration of Environmental factors associated to material extraction

What is known?

The literature provides substantial evidence that extensive research has been carried out previously on CO2 emissions in Construction and more specifically sustainable materials.

Life cycle analysis for CO2 emissions is an increasingly important topic based on the Governments pressure to move Britain to zero carbon. The LCA research suggests many areas that have potential to save CO2 emissions; these include extraction of raw material, transportation, manufacturing, construction, operations and maintenance. All of which contain limitless amounts of data and ways to support GHG in the future.

-Initial research around construction materials suggest the significance saving in carbon will be through the designing and introduced within the project planning phase.
-Research suggested that some of the more significant savings in carbon were in substituting materials i.e. re-use of materials, recycling or the use of organic materials.
-HS2 Ltd are embracing new innovative sustainable solutions to reduce carbon content.
-BREEAM is used within the HS2 project for the first time and is being a pilot scheme within

Rail Infrastructure Projects.

-Concrete Slab Track could be the preferred choice going forward on HS2.
-The reviews of concrete production in the earlier case study shows the environment impact to GHG through the calcination process.
-An estimated 20 million kg of material will be required to facilitate HS2 with a potential of at least 2 million kg carbon to be saved (10%).
-Potential cost savings from using innovative methods of reducing carbon.

What is unknown?

Railway infrastructure relevant research material was more difficult in obtaining on sustainability in the UK. The pursuit for relevant information relating to railway associated sustainability journals were mainly overseas.

Many research scientists have discovered innovative methods in material selection, processing and testing; ultimately, this is beneficial in gathering information, but ideally a more in-depth study for the LCA analysis of the materials being used in UK railway infrastructure projects may be more prudent (i.e. HS2).

In the material selection process on the LCA there could be opportunities to do the following:

-Study the opportunity to potentially link the recycling or re-use of infrastructure material from localised areas.
-Review concrete plant facilities with alternative products to reduce carbon emissions and further localise the plants without jeopardising the quality of product.
-Review PAS 2080 with an aim to link the material selection process of reducing CO2 emissions with cost saving.

Accessible information on HS2 and general rail infrastructure construction methods are readily available; however, specific information will be needed to be obtained in the primary research stage, these include;

-The different ranges of slab track including the supplier, material quantities and installation methods.
-If large amounts of compressed top soil will be used underneath the concrete load bearing pad, where do the project plan to obtain the material and does the material have a specification of soil (i.e. mix with Sand).
-If the rail infrastructure construction requires piling on the slab track design, it would be fundamental to understand the depth of the pilings, the material specification and general configuration (i.e. 3 metres apart).

-If BREEAM is taking an active role in assessing HS2 materials, it would be imperative to understand their findings at present and whether there could be focus into specific areas BREEAM have now yet reviewed.
-The current HS2 project timescales and where they sit within the RIBA stages to understand if the information gathered and researched could be still beneficial in the design, development and construction of HS2.

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

In this chapter, the research will provide detail into reasoning behind the choice of the subject, systematic process to obtain the required research and a structure of different research methods. The research will detail techniques and provide more specific areas in which they will help form the basis for the rest of the study project.

3.2 Research Processing

The research has identified the major concern over the damage of CO2 emissions into the environment during construction and more specifically around material selection in the earlier design phases.

The literature review identified areas for further investigation (detailed in section 2.11); the summary of the literature review has now built the foundations for obtaining more detail in specific areas and supports in providing key facts on the severity of the problem.

The research in chapter 2 has provided an insight into the monumental amounts of CO2 being emitted just in everyday construction activities; for example the concrete industry accounts for 7% of the global carbon emissions (Khatib, 2016).

Research Aim

The research aim will be to bring awareness to the public, government and contractors on opportunities in reducing carbon emissions within railway construction; including an opportunity to reduce CO2 in the future using the basis of the study outputs.

Objectives

-Establish a method to implement positive findings in future infrastructure projects.
-Gain a better understanding of current material selection processes on HS2 along with timescales.
-Identify if costs can be linked to carbon reduction techniques.
-Provide a key statement to encourage adoption of the techniques detailed research into other construction industries.

Research Question

What benefits can be achieved from the research undertaken to implement changes for improvements to CO2 emissions on future Railway projects?

3.3 Research Design

According to John Creswell, the use of a framework detailing the interaction and interconnection of research design can help structure the research (see Figure 3.1 below). “Research designs are plans and the procedures for research that span the decisions from broad assumptions to detailed methods of data collection and analysis”(Creswell, 2009).

A decision needs to be made from the author on the research in the consideration of setup on the criteria i.e. the specific methods of data collection and analysis, the research strategy and the worldview (paradigm) the research may bring from a philosophical perspective.

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Figure 3.1 - A Framework for Design - The Interconnection of worldviews, Strategies of Inquiry, and Research Methods (Creswell, 2009)

3.4 Research Philosophy

Research philosophy is a belief in how data should be collected, analysed and used; the philosophy is behind the scenes and often hidden in the research. According to the 20th century philosopher, Thomas Kuhn; he suggests a paradigm should include “the practices that define a scientific discipline at a certain point in time” and a “Set of common beliefs and agreements shared between scientists about how problems should be understood and addressed” (Kuhn, 1962).

This forms the basis of a pre-perceived specified World view on how answers should be shaped to the research question Creswell (2009). Creswell describes paradigms with the term ‘World view’ forming a set of beliefs that guide actions (Creswell, 2009). A research paradigm is mainly characterised by its ontological, epistemological and methodological dispositions (Kuhn,1962).

According to the illustrated Figure 3.2 below; the outer layer of the research onion specifies that it should be the first topic to be clarified in the research methodology, this will then drive the next stages in pre-determining the research methodology design.

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Typically, the four worldviews shown in the outer layer of the research onion detail the types of philosophies. The table below presents this with details on each.

Table 3.1 Definition of Philosophy types (Creswell, 2009)

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Positivism

The Positivism philosophy refers to factual research gained from numerical measuring, observations and experiments providing quantifiable data.

Realism

The Realism philosophy is the notion of using the human mind in terms of the world through the human senses (Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, 2007). This is known as direct Realism. Critical Realism determines the opposite and states that the human perceptions can be deceptive and do not reflect the truth.

Interpretivism

The Interpretivism philosophy is research shaped by personal though and interest, the research gathered is the result of the research’s opinion to influence the reader. Interpretivism is linked heavily to the qualitative research approach.

Pragmatism

The Pragmatism philosophy is a belief of interpreting data in different ways while undertaking research. This means there is no single point of view that can deliver a completely accurate view; it is considered that there are multiple realities (Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, 2007).

Research Philosophy Summary

The study topic of reducing the carbon footprint requires much of the research to be positivism referring to factual, determined and verified data to make a stronger case. As the data is collated, the research may lead to using interpretivism to shape some of the facts and influence the reader. The research aims to obtain primary data collection methods using different approaches detailed in the next section (CHAPTER 4) to provide strong and robust answers to the study topic. This will then provide a clear route to engaging in primary and secondary data analysis.

3.5 Research Strategy

The research strategy is important in allowing the author to provide a systematic approach to the research study. In turn, the research collated will provide an opportunity in achieving high quality results with the use of a well-executed strategy. There are three key approaches to the research strategy including quantitative (structured), qualitative (unstructured) and mixed methods research. The most appropriate results will be obtained by the researches using an explicit, disciplined and systematic approach. (Creswell, 2009). The purpose of the study will really determine the type of strategy chosen, a study will represent different ends on a continuum (Benz, 1998) allowing the research use a more qualitative or quantitative approach. The Mixed methods approach is positioned more central as it will incorporate elements of both.

Qualitative research

Qualitative research refers to a flexible structured approach of researching individuals or groups that are assigned to a social or human problem. The data collated can often be subjective and exploratory in nature. The research may be used to gain a better understanding of the topic, opinions and motivations of the study area, often leaving the reader open to interpretation. According to Creswell that Qualitative research can be a way to understand how different individuals view different issues providing open ended answers with the use of words, thoughts and feelings (Creswell, 2009).

Quantitative Research

Usually expressed in the form of numbers and closed questions, quantitative research is a more measured, unbiased approach tending to be hard and reliable data gathering (Creswell, 2009). The written structure is rigid and will provide the research substantial evidence often in numerical data to be analysed through statistical procedures. The research strategy consists of experimental and survey research. A downside to using this quantitative research can be with failing to capture the thoughts of the authors opinions as they may not be able to offer reasoning or explanation into findings.

Mixed Methods

This research method combines quantitative and qualitative in the approach of obtaining data before integrating the two and using a set design that allows the author to involve theoretical frameworks and philosophical assumptions. This can help with providing a clearer and concise understanding to a research area. Creswell explains that the use of mixed methods can provide the researcher with a solution if a single method is not applicable and further details on lkmnb how the benefit of using quantitative and qualitative research together can mean taking the results from one method to help solidify an approach in the other. If this method is chosen, it is important for the research to provide strengths and weaknesses when providing the answers to the topic in hand. There can be three variations of mixed methods, see below;

1.Concurrent Mixed Methods - the integration of both forms of research simultaneously to provide a wider view of the research topic.
2.Sequential Mixed Methods - the uses of semi structured interviews using statistical data gained in a quantitative research approach.
3.Transformative Mixed Methods - This can be a mix of sequential and concurrent approach where the research might build a framework for collating data, interest topics and methods with an anticipated outcome of the study (Creswell, 2009).

Research Strategy Summary

Based on the nature of this study into reducing the carbon footprint; a sequential mixed method approach might be the most suitable. This means that the research can obtain information from using interview questions from people working in the construction industry forming the questions with the use of data collated from the current statistics on carbon emissions within the construction industry. In this sense, it will provide a structured but more open-ended answer to the study leaving some flexibility for the readers interpretation.

3.6 Research Methods

The research method is key to ensuring the research generates the knowledge and understanding of the topic; this may include how data is extracted, analysis and interpretation of how the information is presented.

In reference to the topic in discussion for reducing the carbon footprint of materials, it is imperative that the research generates an understanding using background research on the effect of carbon emissions and the life cycle analysis for materials in construction, this in turn provides the research with a well-rounded understanding as more research will be available instead of focusing heavily on the research within the rail industry where research is either not available or not accessible.

In this study there has been careful consideration by the research on how the methods of acquiring the data from reliable and reputable sources is achieved. Consequently, the source types used to generate a wide range of research can be shown below:

-Academic Journals
-Published Case Studies
-Government Publications
-Professional research databases (i.e. Google Scholar)
-Textbooks
-Academic Thesis Publications
-Professional Interviews (in the field of work)
-Questionnaires (generated by statistics)
-Participant Observations (material processing)

3.7 Primary and Secondary Data Collection

Primary research is data collected first hand by the research this might be undertaken using interviewing, questionnaires or observations. It is noted that primary research can also be linked to case studies, observational and experimental studies.

Secondary research is data that is readily available in books, on websites or journals that has already been collated by somebody previously. Secondary research can be extremely useful in providing useful data preventing the need to re-assess a certain area. Table 3.2 below table provides definition of primary and secondary research.

Table 3.2 - Primary )/s Secondary Research data (Hox, J.J. and Boeije, 2005)

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3.8 Primary Research Approach

The research approach will be to obtain information using surveys and interviews to back up the findings on the case studies around different aspects of the existing literature research.

The interviews will be written in both a structured and unstructured style dependant on the interviewee. The structured interviews will be for companies currently unknown and therefore providing a pre-advanced question list. Existing contacts will be utilised in a more unstructured approach to allow the conversation to flow better.

The questions will be designed specifically for the subject area of the person being interviewed with the structured approach, the conversation with unstructured interviews will be linked to the previous experience in their field.

The research aim is to target different areas such as Infrastructure design and construction, concrete specialists and more specifically HS2 Ltd.

The surveys will be designed to ask relevant questions on sustainability in the UK and the importance of reducing CO2 emissions to the public using a random sampling approach (explained further in section 3.10).

3.9 Secondary Research Approach

The research will use existing case studies to ensure the data for materials can back up any findings or discussion points from the primary research exercises. The secondary research can also provide information on facts and figures for existing sustainable materials or recycling processors.

3.10 Sampling

Once the techniques have been determined for the use of research collation and boundaries set for achieving findings, the next stage is to decide the characteristics of participants through sampling.

Sampling is a technique used to target a specific population normally a sub group or individual that the researcher is interested in. It is important that sampling is not generalised in applying earlier research findings from the target population until they have reviewed all other members within the sub group.

The more representative the sample, the more confidence the author can then be on the accuracy of the results. One of the largest problems faced is bias opinions, often this can make it difficult to ensure this does not reflect the characteristics of the target population.

There are four methods of sampling techniques, these are:

-Random Sampling - more commonly used with a larger target population; the advantage of random sampling is that a study conclusion is generally unbiased.
-Stratified Sampling - refers to dividing up a population into separate groups pre-defined as a ‘strata’. The sample can then cover a larger range of a target population faster by making accurate, variable selections.
-Opportunity Sampling - Based on convenience, this technique uses people available at the time to provide samples. The downside might be that the representative sample could be biased and not fully accurate.
-Systematic Sampling - the sampling technique is taking the members of the target population and dividing the number of people on the number of samples (this can be determined ‘n’). The research then will consider sampling every nth person to obtain a systematic sample.

3.11 Ethical Considerations

It is important to ensure that the study conducts all design and research in an appropriate manner to avoid any unacceptable information being published. The research must always work to norms, standards and research guidelines, which will help identify right and wrong (Burgess R.G, 1989).

There are some basic ethic principles to follow when using human subjects to gather research, these are as follows;

-Do not harm - Physical and Psychological harm to participants.
-Minimise the risk - Be aware of social disadvantage
-Obtaining informed consent - Give participants the option to withdraw from the research
-Protecting anonymity and confidentiality - Invasion of Privacy
-Avoid Deceptive Practice

3.12 Summary

Below summarises the justification approach taken by the research subject:

-The research has led to a Positivism philosophy approach using factual information.
-Primary and secondary research techniques will be used including interviews, questionnaires and case studies.
-A sequential mixed method approach will be adopted to ensure that the research gathered will be using quantitative data with the opportunity to provide any variations from factual data by primary sources.
-Opportunity sampling on interviews and random sampling on questionnaires will be established.

Primary Research Topics for interview discussions will include:

A sustainability survey will be developed with 5 sections; including

-General Demographic
-Personal Information
-Organisational Sustainability
-Environmental Awareness
-HS2 / UK Government

The sections are designed to be brief and direct obtaining data from the people who work within engineering and construction sectors. The survey aims to obtain data from approx.30 people in total.

The questions in each section are designed to allow the data gathered to easily be analysed by using multiple choice single answer questions. This means extracting and analysing the data can be more straightforward.

From the estimated target of 30 people to undertake the survey - additional questions within certain areas of design, construction management, concrete processors and HS2 are key in providing more details to support the study.

The following people below are contacts that all work within the rail industry and have been agreed to allow a recorded interview via phone calls / emails to be published in this study.

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Table 3.3 - List of interviewees to support the study

Target Answers on HS2 through primary interview research will include:

-Timescales
-Material suppliers, locations and quantities.
-Budget

Secondary Research Topics

The secondary research focus points will be the following, under each section provides the journal or article that is in review.

Concrete processes

-CO2 emission reduction by reuse of building material waste in the Japanese Cement Industry (Oh et al., 2014)
-Influence of recycled brick aggregates on properties of structural concrete for manufacturing precast prestressed beams (Gonzalez et al., 2017)

Track Sub-ballast

-Non-linear soil behaviour on high speed rail lines (Dong et al., 2019)
-Behaviour of sub-ballast reinforced with used tyre and potential application in rail tracks (Indraratna, Sun and Grant, 2017)

Material recycling

-Sustainability of Construction Materials, 2nd Edition. (Khatib, 2016)
-Use of recycled aggregates arising from construction and demolition waste in new construction applications (Cardoso et al., 2016)

Alternative materials for Railway Sleepers

-Polymeric composite railway sleepers (Ghorban, 2013)
-A review of alternative materials for replacing existing timber sleepers (Manalo et al., 2010)
-Derailment-resistant performance of modular composite rail track slabs (Kaewunruen, 2018)

Cost savings achieved in Carbon Reduction

-Infrastructure Carbon Review PAS2080 (ICR, 2018)

Existing sustainable innovative methods

-Dura Composites Rail Products (Retention and Solutions, 2019)

Target Audience

-Construction designers (Rail Specific companies such as Network Rail, Aecom, WSP, Balfour Beatty, HS2, Tube lines, London Underground)

-Government
-Future Investors (clients)
-Existing infrastructure projects.

Final Stage

The research will form the basis for a framework to hold all the gathered information on sustainable materials, renewable energy and CO2 saving opportunities, this may include;

-Recycling, alternative materials and sustainable innovative products in Infrastructure development.
-Sustainable Machinery and Construction.
-Material Processing Improvements to reduce carbon content.
-Areas for renewable energy to operate infrastructure (i.e. solar, wind, wave turbine etc)

CHAPTER 4 SURVEY OF CURRENT PRACTICE & KNOWLEDGE

4.1 Ethic Clearance

Ethical Clearance has been approved by Loughborough University, a copy of the form can be provided on request which includes a risk assessment undertaken on data protection. The survey is not prejudice to gender, race or age; as detailed in the methodology, the research aims at obtaining opinions from people currently working within the Engineering and Construction sector on sustainability. The target number was set at 30 people stated in the methodology, the number exceeded the target and totalled 66 people at the point the information was extracted. The full breakdown of the data for all questions can be seen in appendix CHAPTER 8.iii. For the benefit of participants, all will remain anonymous following submission of this published study.

4.2 Public Online Survey Data (Structured)

The survey was disseminated to extrapolate the views of working professionals in construction and engineering sectors with the use of LinkedIn to promote the survey.

A link can be seen below to the current online survey; closing on 28th August 2019.

https://www.callforparticipants.com/study/RYGAU/msc-construction-management

Section one of the survey starts with requesting data on demographics from the participants. This includes current organisation size, job type, industry, experience etc. This is useful to get an understanding of all the applicants to ensure that a wide range of applicants from different organisations and industries have been involved. Below the pie chart shows the breakdown of participants job descriptions.

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Figure 4.1 - Pie Chart of job description breakdown based on the online survey (Newton, 2019)

The next section is based on the personal viewpoint on sustainability from the participants; this provides vital information on getting to know the people undertaking the survey. The survey shows nearly 91% of people recycle and only 9% of participants are currently not supporting the environment with recycling.

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Figure 4.2- Bar Chart of participants recycling (Newton, 2019)

Section three specifies the organisational sustainability in the viewpoint of the participants, out of the 66 participants on average only 16.9% stated that their organisations are doing enough to support UK sustainability and 21.5% of organisations have embedded any sustainability processors such as LED lighting or recycling policies.

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Figure 4.4 - A pie chart to show the % of participants organisations sustainable, embedded processes (Newton, 2019)

At the end of the section, an opportunity was provided to the participants to provide comments on what improvements they would like to see within the organisation. All the comments can be seen in the appendices, I have transcribed some of the more pertinent comments;

“If you could make any changes to your organisation regarding sustainability improvements, what would these be?” (Newton, 2019)

-“Try to introduce a new culture in the working environment by involving all participants in taking part in reducing carbon emissions. The way to do this would be by summoning employees for briefings and explain to them the importance of sustainability and the ramifications of carbon emissions within the built environment.” Anon, 2019.
-“Encourage minimal printing, introduce recycling bins to offices, introduce LED lighting and electric car charging points” Anon, 2019
-“Eco-friendly 3PL’s (3rd party logistics providers), invest in more R&D activities that aim to improve our final products sustainability, car share scheme - reduce number of cars travelling into work, recycling points for employees in all offices i.e. for paper waste, plastic waste etc.” Anon, 2019
-“Buy more products locally when sourcing so that travel/delivery distances are reduced.” Anon, 2019
-“Better use of web conferencing to reduce the need to travel to sites for meetings.” Anon, 2019
-“Reduce vegetation clearance, think smarter about compounds and reuse, optimise design.” Anon, 2019
-“Make current energy consumption more visible with a comparison to targets” Anon, 2019
-“Make sustainability and carbon reduction a non-negotiable subject. It is often the first thing to get scrapped when costs escalate.” Anon, 2019

Section four covered environmental questions including some general knowledge. The last question allowed the participant to choose their preferred choice of renewable energy, interestingly 53% of the people taking the survey chose solar energy.

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Figure 4.5 - A pie chart to show the survey participants choice of sustainable energy (Newton, 2019)

The final part of the survey asked participants their opinions on HS2 and on their views of the level of Governments support on sustainability. Many of the participants taking the online survey are involved in the rail industry and therefore the figure of 50% for participants backing HS2 actually low, based on the earlier demographics showing 40.7% working between rolling stock and infrastructure as its assumed those working in the rail industry would back the projects due to job

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A total of 84.8% of participants agreed that the government should provide more awareness to the general public on the damage of CO2 emissions.

Do you feel the government should provide more awareness to the general public on the damage of CO2 emissions with more details on the main issues damaging your future or the future of others environment?

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Figure 4.7 - A Bar Chart to show the % of whether the government provides enough awareness (Newton, 2019)

After the survey question above, there was an opportunity for participants to provide any optional feedback if answered ‘yes’, the full list of comments can be seen in the APPENDIX A - TABLES & DATA, but some examples can be seen below.

-“Education and innovation in technology & energy generation in use”. Anon, 2019
-“More Awareness of the severity of the problem and more policies that encourage sustainable low-emission practise from industry and the public.” Anon, 2019
-“On my opinion, the government must implement strict laws/ regulations to encourage people to cooperate. Treat this as safety. Then teach this at home and schools as part of our daily lives.” Anon, 2019
-“More advertisement to the public through education and workplaces. More eye-opening media similar to anti-smoking campaigns that highlight the impacts of smoking”. Anon, 2019.
-“More fines and taxes to big companies to force environmental change and improve the state of the environment” Anon, 2019.
-“Debated more in parliament, discussed in the news, support green transport options, increase taxes on big carbon producers (e.g. tax reductions if 10% reduction) to reduce GHG. Anon, 2019.
-“Be honest about the science behind climate change, its impacts and the ecologically crisis we are currently facing. Provide extensive education across multiple media sources of the impacts on our current day to day lives are having on the environment.” Anon, 2019.
-“More direct communication i.e. official government or local council letters explaining the current situation and what we need to do to improve the situation” Anon, 2019.

Finally, 71% of participants have stated they would be prepared to sign a government petition detailing the CO2 emissions caused from concrete production and that the government should do more in supporting the country with applying restrictions and legislations on the calcination processors.

Survey Results Summary

The survey outlined the need for more to be done in supporting the construction industry in increasing pressure and awareness to use sustainable solutions.

From the comments provided by survey participants; the consensus of comments shows a genuine passion for the environment with 98.5% taking interest. Many comments stated that more should be done by organisations and the government in supporting sustainability in the future. This is not to say that the government are not attempting to implement policies on reducing CO2 emissions, fossil fuels, the use of recycling methods and renewable energy, there is just seems to be a lack of urgency and awareness on facts. A great example of this can be in the survey, a general question on environment below in Figure 4.8.

The Ozone forms a protective layer in the earth's upper atmosphere. What does the Ozone protect us from?

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Figure 4.8 - A bar chart to show the Ozone Layer response from participants (Newton, 2019)

Figure 4.8 above provides evidence that although people know that CO2 emissions damage the environment, many professional people taking the survey do not know why CO2 emissions need to be reduced judging by the 36.6% who have been misinformed or not informed at all on the resulting damage on the Ozone layer.

As the online survey uses the technique of random sampling in the sense of allowing anybody in the construction and engineering industry to undertake, it be viewed as unbiased. The feedback provided by the participants provided comments urging to see more improvements in their workplace. Many of the suggested comments are straightforward to implement including basic recycling, electric charge points (for cars), more web conferencing etc.

The feedback was highly informative and provided a great insight into their current frustrations on sustainability in the UK.

One of the suggested comments was for the Government to implement laws and legislations with the same attention as safety. The United Kingdom in construction is one of the safest countries to work in the world for HSE (Media, 2015); however, the country is further behind other well established countries with its sustainable policies and from a cultural way of thinking from organisations.

The importance of keeping the survey nonspecific allowed a wider target audience to participate, most of the questions were easy to answer using multiple choice single answer questions.

This supported the extracting of data, meaning the data could easily be analysed when reviewing the results.

The best revelation from the use of the online survey was the support provided and useful comments participants left. As participants are kept anonymous it may mean that people became more open and honest about sustainability concerns.

Overall the answers provided by participants show that the overriding majority to support in improving the carbon footprint for materials in the UK.

4.3 Interviews

The next stage of the research uses some of the people that supported in the survey currently working in pertinent areas of the research topic area. The below details can be provided on the people who have agreed to support in being interviewed. The interviews have been constructed via different ways and will be detailed in the section.

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HS2 Unstructured Interview

The phone interview was carried out on 14th August 2019 with a current Project Manager at HS2 Ltd based in Birmingham. The Project Manager (PM) who cannot be named for data protection policies will stay anonymous has approximately 10-15 years infrastructure experience.

The interview duration was approximately 30 minutes in an unstructured approach which allowed the conversation to flow and provide large amounts of information on the status of HS2.

The PM’s responsibility is the design and development at Birmingham Curzon Street train station, but the PM currently oversees other aspects such as track systems that interface with the station design.

The MP3 recorded interview files can be found on the memory stick attached submitted with the document. These will be on request if not available. The interview questions have been transcribed; however, this does not transcribe the whole interview.

1. Author: “If HS2 will be cancelled it means a lot of job losses to be fair?”

Interviewee: “Yes, I am confident it will go ahead, timescale wise it will just procrastinate a bit. I think it’s the way we seek to deliver larger construction projects in the UK. Particularly if its publicly funded and there’s no private investment...It’s just so political, you can’t get away from it, nobody can make decisions, and everything gets pushed up the tree to the get to Department for Transport and they are not that well informed” .” Figures given in 2014/2015. It was back of the fag packet like stuff, they didn’t have any consultants on board considering it is such high level, but they are now been held to these numbers and now the design has progressed and we understand constraints and what it is really going to cost to deliver the costs have gone up. How can you cut £30m or £40m of the costs of a station with the budget of £310m?”

Appendices 9- Interviews (1. Opening Conversation- USB Stick)

2. Author: What are the current timescales at the moment, do you know?

Interviewee: “Well I do but they haven’t been publicised, that’s why I was saying to you that I can’t commit on email. So, we have gone through another re-baselining exercise now and they have looked across the whole programme but mainly focusing on phase 1 London section. Originally, the timescales were trains to be operable from the end of 2026, they are now talking about sometime in early 2030... Costs have gone up quite significantly and it will take longer to build than they had anticipated but the longer they procrastinate about things the worse it gets, so the main works will need to kick off now. The way they have split it up main works Civils on a two-stage procurement ECI phase to look at cost deficiencies and develop the designs further. The costs have now got horrendously way above budget mainly because when they went out to tender, they went out on concept design so very little detail. They have been worked up more now.The contractors that are linked are Balfour Beatty and Vinci.”

Appendices 9 - Interviews (1. Opening Conversation- USB Stick)

3. Author: Do you know whether HS2 would be opting for a slab track design?

Interviewee: “Yes, well I know it’s been assessed from a value Engineering perspective but the last I heard the decision had been made that the Phase 1 route would all be slab track.lots of tunnels, lots of constrained infrastructure for gauging, particularly on the southern section but I think they are looking for areas in which they can get away with ballasted track from a cost perspective.”

Appendices 9 - Interviews (2. slab Track- USB Stick)

4. Author: Are the suppliers overseas for HS2?

Interviewee: “It’s not confirmed but I presume it’s using oversees supplier.I’m not close enough to know in terms of which materials are being considered and to be honest until they get the contractors on board and start looking at the real detail of it which won’t be for another 18 months I would imagine. The rail systems design is a lot further behind by than stations or signalling designs as they are the last one in, which is causing us problems as we are interfacing with rail systems on stations designs and we having to make loads of assumptions on what is going to happen with the rail systems.until they come to build it, it’s going to be at least six or seven years’ time.”

Appendices 9 - Interviews (3. Suppliers & New Developments- USB Stick)

5. Author: Would there be change management on board in looking at new developments and technology that are coming into the markets?

Interviewee: “Yes, HS2 have developed this innovation team that are looking at and encouraging the supply chain to be innovative and come up with new strategies that could save us money, and also running competitions with prize money just with individuals that have a bright ideas and this doesn’t necessary have to be cost, so anything with environmental benefits ...there are works information regarding sustainability and material use, wherever possible HS2’s aim is to find a local supply chain in the area and even if the contract gets awarded to a big principle contractor that is not UK based they still want them think about the carbon footprint from where they get their materials and equally want local areas to benefit from the investments. They are quire big at big at publicising there is loads on LinkedIn, there seems to be loads about how HS2 seems to be supporting local supplier.”

Appendices 9 - Interviews (3. Suppliers & New Developments- USB Stick)

6. Author: I noticed the big focus on reducing emissions concentration on sustainability and I saw the BREEAM is involved and is it the first time BREEAM has been involved in any railway project?

Interviewee: “Certainly, I don’t remember or actually there may have been a case in London Bridge got a BREEAM excellent rating but all the stations we have written into our requirements as a minimum need to achieve an BREEAM rating of excellent, they are pushing for excellent, but they are pushing for outstanding.”

Appendices 9 - Interviews (4. Sustainability- USB Stick)

7. Author: Have you noticed the pressure from the government or local authorities in making sure there are more sustainable policies such as bream or PAS2080?

Interviewee: I have not heard of PAS 2080, with my job I don’t really get involved. It’s set by the DfT within the requirements a couple of years ago. As I understand from the outset, they wanted this to be environmentally friendly project as far as possible... I think the stations themselves have got a requirement to be carbon neutral.

Appendices 9 - Interviews (4. Sustainability- USB Stick)

8. Author: Do you think that there is a chance that build the infrastructure could be zero carbon?

Interviewee: That is certainly the plans, interestingly because of the cost challenges there has been reviewing on value Engineering. There is a body called the structures directive that kind of look at the main engineering parties centrally in HS2 and they were looking at how they can tweak the requirements and potentially looking at zero carbon. Public expects now especially public infrastructure expects environmentally friendly and sustainable and if they were to take away that requirement and it got out to the press, I think they would have a field day.

Appendices 9 - Interviews (4. Sustainability- USB Stick)

9. Author: In terms of the design, have you come across anything yourself in the station you’re working in such as sustainable materials?

Interviewee: “I am not aware of anything in the station that is particularly a GRP or FRP but I have used it previously when I was at Network Rail as they were big on life cycle costing as it saves on maintenance. There is already a material choice or Durability assessment needs to be done for the chosen materials.”

Appendices 9 - Interviews (5. Composite Materials- USB Stick)

Summary of unstructured HS2 interview results

The interview exposes a lot of commercially sensitive information despite HS2 being one of the UKs largest publicly funded projects, HS2 are still withholding a lot of public information from the media.

On reflection of the interview there seems to be an obvious lack of leadership from a top level in the organisation when it comes to decision making, it was stated decisions are currently being made from the DfT that are not well informed to make specific decisions.

On a positive note, the interview provided confidence that the project will continue to go ahead, despite concerns raised in the media that Government funding may not be secured to proceed.

In some ways, the fact that figures and timescales are kept away from the media is due to the bad publicity that the project would receive if it was found to be four years behind schedule and heavily over the budget with the current RIBA 3 design. The PM in the interview stated that the problem stems from the original tender documentation that was top level conceptual planning and needed to have provided more detail from the start seen in the question 1 response. Moving forward the HS2 teams will need to continue to undertake these deep dive activities to extrapolate the missing detailed design information, some of which might reflect increases in cost.

The interviewee was able to confirm that Phase 1 of HS2 would be looking to use slab track, the current supplier has not been approved. The PM was not able to provide much detail on the material, it was confirmed that most of the suppliers would be overseas suppliers and not UK based organisations.

The HS2 project still has a long term aim to be sustainable and be environmentally friendly, the interviewee stated that the stations have a design requirement to be carbon neutral and achieve BREEAM rated certification to Outstanding. The issue is now how much the Government will be willing to jeopardise the sustainability policies originally set up to save costs going forward, especially with setting the bar so high initially, as detailed in question 8 the media will have a field day.

Following this interview, the interviewee submitted an internal document by email written by HS2 in 2017 “Transforming Lives, building for the future, HS2 Sustainability Approach”. The document outlines the vision, approach, benefits, opportunities and environmental/health concerns. More information can be found in section 5.5.

Failed Primary Research Attempts

A clear next step in the process is understanding how BRE has linked up with HS2 Ltd and review of the current remit. Unfortunately, after contacting BRE, they responded stating that BRE do not offer a question and answer service for dissertation requests. BRE then provided links to BRE related sites, none of which were helpful in enlightening on any of the current policies in process with HS2. A copy of the email response can be seen in CHAPTER 8.iv of the appendices. The two additional interviews have been postponed one due to bad health and the other due to work commitments this was to gather more information on construction and design stages.

4.4 Conclusion

In conclusion, more primary research needs to be undertaken to provide a more detailed and focused agreement into specific areas of sustainability. The primary research collected in this chapter (4) merely touches the surface and already provides evidence there are weaknesses in political, cultural and social divides between the workforce and the organisations.

The survey provided insightful information with a variety of responses from participants showing real enthusiasm in wanting to do more for the environment. It seems the employees participating in the survey are frustrated with their organisations and the Government for not doing more to help or support sustainability in the UK.

The fact 84.8% of participants believe the Government should do more about awareness provides the reality of the problem; however, this shouldn’t be about pointing the finger at the Government as the senior MPs running the country could be unaware themselves. Therefore, it is important to gather information in promoting the awareness to the public on the reality of the damage caused by emissions and make improvements to the climate for future generations.

The unstructured interview technique was useful in allowing the HS2 Project Manager to provide a true insight into the concerns of the HS2 Project. It became apparent why HS2 despite one of the largest public projects to ever commence in the UK has very little to no media coverage. It seems there are numerous challenges being faced internally from a political side. Let us hope that HS2 will not drop their sustainable moral policies in order to achieve cost savings going forward.

Limitations in Primary Research

With more time available, it would have been interesting to focus more on the demographics and social study of behaviours towards sustainability, this could have been achieved by reviewing the gathered date in the survey on the participants experience and then linking it to their views on the environment to understand whether it could be a generational issue or whether today’s generation are still unaware of the issues the UK and planet face with reducing the carbon emissions in construction.

Following unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to finalise other interviews with professionals working in other areas such as infrastructure design and construction management, it would have been judicious to have their opinions on sustainability especially since both had worked on the railway for over 40 years.

What is known?

-Most of the participants taking the sustainability online survey are keen to support the environment and agree that there should be more support from local authorities and Government (only 13.6% out of 66 participants agree enough is being done).
-Organisations are not doing enough, only 16.9% are fully supporting sustainability in the workplace with other organisations having no clear incentives to move towards being sustainably friendly.
-Professional employees taking survey have proven their willingness to want to do more for the environment, 71.2% have even agreed to sign a Government petition in supporting the reduction of CO2 from construction materials in the UK.
-Peoples preferred renewable energy source is Solar Energy accounting for 53% of the votes.
-Participants were aware that in order to improve the current environment it’s important to change all areas of Social, environmental and economic; 49% of participants picked up on this.
-Lastly, 75.8% of survey participants would like HS2 to implement a zero-carbon policy in regard to infrastructure development.

What is still unknown?

-HS2 are trying to reduce their budget based on the interview, it is not clear whether the sustainability policies already agreed will be unwound?
-In the online survey, it was clear that people have strong views on the environment, to what effect can awareness do in implementing new, more stringent mandatory Government policy?
-The interaction of BRE with HS2 in terms of the framework used and whether it captures material selection?
-The disruption of HS2 infrastructure on local areas in the community?

CHAPTER 5 CASE STUDIES

5.1 Introduction

The secondary research in the case studies will provide important foundations and detail behind the primary research collated in Chapter 4 and existing information secondary data from the literature review in Chapter 2. The chapter is broken down into six sections that include:

-Concrete processing & recycling
-Opportunities in reducing CO2 in Construction
-HS2 overview
-Track sub ballast
-Alternative materials for railway sleepers
-Cost savings achieve in carbon reduction.
-Sustainable Innovative Technology
-Renewable Energy in Construction

The case study reviews are intended to provide further data in moving forward into establishing a method to implement findings that can benefit the environment while providing critical evidence of the environmental impact to increase the awareness of current material life cycles on the planet.

5.2 Concrete Processing & Recycling

The life cycle for concrete production starts with extraction of raw materials feeding the preparation process which includes crushing, grinding, preheating and precalcining. The clinker process then uses a rotary kiln to heat up the raw materials at approximately 1500°C; the next process is cement grinding before cooling and storing. The visual diagram below simplifies the concrete manufacturing process, this diagrammatic process is a typical concrete plant created by the European Cement Association. (CEMBUREAU, 2014

-Innovation in Manufacturing
-Innovative Binders
-Concrete Innovation
-Innovation Networks

(CEMBUREAU, 2018)

The association are showing support to several companies working in the above areas; many of these projects are on a small scale in unproven areas. An example of the above is a project called LEILAC (Low Emissions Intensity Lime and Cement), the organisation is run by the European Union Horizon (H2020) as a research and innovation project in carbon capturing technology. The project started in 2016 and runs into the end of 2020. The pilot plant is hosted by Heidelberg Cement in Belgium. The project was worth €21m with an additional €12m funding. (LEILAC, 2016) The life cycle analysis shown in Figure 5.2 below provides evidence that the association has spent time in reviewing methods of improving and supporting the environment. A report released by the institution in 2014 shows the cradle to grave for the LCA and have provided the importance of ensuring that every part of the life cycle is covered.

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Figure 5.2- Life Cycle Analysis for Concrete (CEMBUREAU, 2014)

Concrete waste constitutes more than 70% of all construction waste (Oh et al., 2014); however, the end of life for concrete is 100% recyclable visible in the Figure 5.2. Concrete can then be re¬used as aggregate for road hardcore which accounts for an estimated 30-40% of all recycled concrete (Deja J, Uliasz-Bochenczyk A, 2010). A large percentage of recycled aggregate can be put back into concrete production; conversely, this does not resolve the issue of CO2 emissions on the manufacturing process.

The manufacturing process of concrete equates to 81% of the total CO2 emissions from the LCA (Khatib, 2016); this is mainly in decarbonisation of limestone during the burning process estimated to be around 60-65% and from the burning of fossil fuels to generate the heat required to reach approximately 1500°C (estimated to be around 35-40%) (Deja J, Uliasz-Bochenczyk A, 2010).

Concrete represents a responsibility of 7% for Global CO2 emissions and around 2.5% of the United Kingdom’s total CO2 emissions (Deja J, Uliasz-Bochenczyk A, 2010).

The below table provides CO2 emission quantities for concrete production taken from a journal on GHG emissions based on concrete manufacture. The table provides evidence to the previous information detailed in section 2.4. World cement production totalled 3.4 Billion tonnes in 2014 (Oh et al., 2014). The emissions factor of cement is over five times higher than any of the other material shown.

Table 5.1 - CO2 Emission factors for concrete production (Flower, D.J.M., Sanjayan, 2007)

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The estimated concrete carbon footprint (CCF) can be seen below for the three variants of concrete. All three show a high amount of CO2 release when considering the amount of concrete used worldwide every day.

Table 5.2 - estimated CCF (Khatib, 2016)

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Energy requirements for the concrete LCA are far higher than most other materials used in construction, a large amount of energy is required to generate the heat of the kilns (1500°C); predominately fossil fuels are burnt at concrete plants to achieve the high temperatures. The energy requirement for a wet kiln is estimated to be 10 GJ / Tonnes of clinker (Flower, D.J.M., Sanjayan, 2007).

Summary of Concrete

Many concrete firms are shifting over to other technologies described in the next section (Opportunities in reducing CO2), waste concrete currently requires a 40% energy demand in the end use of the building sector which is far higher than transportation and other industry sectors (ASBL, 2009). This presents a problem with regards to a more efficient way of dealing with recycling.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has stated that at present there is a 67% demand for residential build with an increased demand by triple the current amount by 2050. (International Energy Agency, 2010)

Additionally, concrete manufacturing exposes the atmosphere to other harmful substances such as Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), Sulphur Oxides (SOx) and dust emissions. Consideration to local areas must be accounted for due to the potential of noise pollution and air quality damage from crushing and grinding operations (Khatib, 2016). The impact on the environment from the extreme CO2 emissions means a move towards acidification of rain and eutrophication (which is excess of nutrients).

5.3 Opportunities in reducing CO2 in infrastructure

There are two main types of carbon; capital carbon and operational carbon. Capital carbon is reviewing the options of cutting volumes of materials and using resources more efficiently. Operational carbon is the focus of energy use where there is a more significant influence up front. Both types of carbon require clear focus and play a vital role in reducing carbon, energy and cost in the future.

In the last decade, the UK has tried to cut carbon some of these examples can be with the highway’s agency by 40% and the Olympics Infrastructure in 2012 by 26%. These examples are detailed further in section 5.7.

Analysts have suggested by 2050 there could be a saving of 4 MtCO2e/year of capital carbon and 20 MtCO2e/year of operational carbon (HM Treasury, 2013). As stated in section 2.10, “reducing carbon is not just about building new assets in a more intelligent way - it’s about demanding a better performance from what we already have.”(New Civil Engineer, 2018).

At present, 70% of emissions are generated from infrastructure, this means there is a large scope and a lot of focus on reducing carbon in infrastructure. There are many ways this can be achieved in construction, operating and maintaining methods. On average, the construction phase will normally be accountable for the highest CO2 emissions.

Reducing CO2 in concrete

Concrete production is generally dictated by the local availability of material, standards and industrial practise; if the construction industry as an organisation committed to using more supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) with the backing from governments and local authorities, SCMs could reduce CO2 emissions by up to 20% (Khatib, 2016). The SCM is the use of a recycled by-product the most common from neighbouring industries such as steel slag, fly ash and types of clay (Chelsea Harvey, 2018).

SCMs are governed by the European standard EN 206-1 2014 and splits into type 1 and type 2 (Worrell, 2001). The objectives of using the SCMs are to reduce the clinker volume which in turn has cost benefits and reduces environmental impact. Secondly, they allow concrete properties to be modified in fresh and hardened states.

In Japan, the cement production totalled around 57.6 million tonnes in 2012, the CO2 emissions generated from this accounts for 4% of the total industrial emissions worldwide (Oh et al., 2014). The study of CO2 emission reduction by the reuse of building material waste in the Japanese cement industry reviews alternative use of raw materials that contain carbonates (waste concrete powder (WCP) and demolished inorganic building material waste (DIBM)) as a cement substitute (Oh et al., 2014). As detailed in the earlier section 2.4 Reducing CO2 emissions in , the journal reviews the opportunity of looking at chemical components such as DIBMS and WCPs. These products have similar properties to cement materials and are reviewed as an alternative for raw materials in the manufacture of Portland cement clinker.

The below Figure 5.3 is an in-depth flow diagram showing how the WCP and DIBMs are recycled into the earlier chemical process prior to calcination of adding limestone. The breakdown of recycling shows that landfill will take 0.6%, demolished concrete 32% and WCP/recycled aggregate 31.4%.

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Figure 5.3 diagram to show how reusing DIBM and WCP can reduce CO2 emissions in cement processing (Oh et al., 2014)

The above study is still in experimental stages of production in Japan, the initial stages of the testing, mechanical properties of the concrete were assessed through mortar specimens on the recycled cement; all test variants were found to have high compressive strengths. Its estimated that out of the 57.6 million tonnes of cement production 9.1% of this can be recycled (Oh et al., 2014).

Summary of reducing CO2 in infrastructure

Following the research collated in this section, it’s clear that the main contributor to CO2 emissions is a result of the heating raw materials producing clinker seen in Figure 5.3, in order to reduce the GHG there are many options available some of which have already been discussed, in many ways its about using a variety of approaches with major changes required in materials used and the manufacturing process (Chelsea Harvey, 2018).

-Clinker Replacement (SCM)
-Alternative Fuels (i.e. Renewable Energy)
-Improved Kiln
-Carbon Capture (CCS)
-Recycled Material

At present the SCMs offer the most straightforward technique in reducing CO2 emissions in production and is becoming a more common approach in the concrete industry, the method does have the downside of inefficiencies in guaranteeing the strength of the concrete achieved by a mixture of cement and SCM (Khatib, 2016).

Emerging technologies can be with carbon capturing and storage technologies. The process means capturing CO2 before it is released into the atmosphere and then compressed into underground storage cylinders. The process is still in the early development stages and remains to be seen if it can become cost and energy effective. There is a mixed views on CCS technologies as scientists have stated that it is just avoiding the problem (Khatib, 2016).

As previously discussed in this chapter, concrete can be fully recyclable and mainly re-used in road construction. In the UK 28% of total aggregate used in the construction are actually recycled, meaning the UK id the highest in Europe (Concrete Centre, 2011). The only downsides include any contaminants that can alter the strength or durability, the concrete strength will reduce by up to 40% and any creep or shrinkage that needs to be accounted for (Sonebi, 2011).

A theory has been put forward in a paper from Natural Geoscience in 2016, suggesting that concrete naturally absorbs CO2 over a long period of time known as CO2 uptake, the theory is that the worlds concrete is absorbing 43% of original emissions, this is an interesting topic and whether in the future it could be combined with CCS technologies once more research has been carried out. As the population continues to rise, it is estimated that cement production will need to increase by nearly 23% by 2050 (Chelsea Harvey, 2018).

5.4 HS2 Overview

HS2 Ltd is currently in the RIBA 3 detailed design for all infrastructure in phase 1 including track solutions.

As detailed previously in section 2.7, HS2 are now collaborating with BRE to create a standard for infrastructure design and construction; developing a new assessment method that will be a pilot scheme for future railway infrastructure. According to HS2 Phase one information paper on approach to sustainability, the paper suggests there will be focus on enabling works, main work civils and rail systems all of which will be designed to meet the ‘excellent’ rating as a minimum under BREEAM (Snowhill and Queensway, 2017). At present, it’s unclear to whether BRE will take any consideration into the material selection process with regards to using sustainable materials in the design phases, although there has been a clear indication that the consortium responsible for HS2 could be willing to review proposals put forward offering sustainability improvements, this is based on their commitment to evolving into new ways on improving the sustainability (Thurston, 2015).

The sustainability policy written by HS2 includes details on environmental change, climate change and integrated transport. In the statement, it includes details on resources and waste, stating; “source and make efficient use of sustainable materials, maximise the proportion of materials diverted from landfill and reduce waste” (Thurston, 2015). The policy can be seen in the CHAPTER 9.i of the appendices.

The policy subsequently indicates that from an innovation perspective the HS2 plan is to promote sustainable construction and will continually look towards improvements using new ideas and technology. A HS2 environmental commitment list can be seen in CHAPTER 9.ii; the commitment lists a number of areas with point four including minimising the carbon footprint.

HS3 (NPR)

In recent years there has been a further development in the planning of HS3 which is now known as the Northern Powerhouse Rail. NPR aims to run from Liverpool to Hull via Manchester and Leeds; however, plans have not yet been fully finalised. In July 2019, Boris Johnson (the UK current prime minister) has pledged to fund the link from Manchester to Leeds. (Weinfass, 2019). The project could commence from 2020 dependant on the secured funding, no other further details on conceptual designs have been released.

HS2 Track Design

Following the interview with a HS2 employee in section 4.31, it was confirmed that HS2 will be likely to move towards the use of slab track systems on phase 1 build between London and Birmingham. The overall creation of 660 miles (530,970m) of new track means a large amount of concrete would be required to supply the build (Stone, 2019), where HS2 can, they should stipulate to the supplier a move over to carbon neutral concrete methods to align with their earlier sustainability policies. At present, the UK has no suppliers of concrete slab track systems, HS2 would likely choose a European supplier to ensure the EN 16730 standard is met.

A slab track formation is basically pre-slab (factory cast); below show the main European suppliers

-Acciona (Spanish Modular)
-Sonneville LVT (German)
-Embedded Rail Slab System (Balfour Beatty)
-SSF Ingenueure (German) ; (Stone, 2019)

The below figure provides a detailed diagram of the layout for a ballast less track and the different layers of earthwork requirements. Slab track is a ballast less concrete slab necessitating the need for ballast sub grade with a flat reinforced concrete slab that allows concrete sleepers to be embedded. Many of the slab track designs further require piling to provide more compressive strengths and stability (Ingenieure, 2017).

The SSF design shown in the above Figure 5.4Error! Reference source not found. is manufactured in Germany. The concrete quantities to feed slab track systems can be significant when considering the reinforced continuous concrete slab, concrete sleepers and concrete piles. The process of producing the pre-slab, transportation and installation of concrete slabs will all increase the CO2 emissions in both capital and operational carbon detailed more in section 5.3.

The layout of the slab track also requires the ballast-less track to be stabilised to a depth of at least 2.5m below the bearing plate with appropriate earthwork construction (Ingenieure, 2017).

Concrete does offer several benefits over existing materials as seen in the table below; however, there are some downsides to using concrete to which include weight of the material, increased cost, install difficulties and high electrical conductivity. The main benefit of concrete sleepers is the low maintenance and service life; this offers a fit and forget alternative to existing designs that require regular maintenance and upgrades.

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Table 5.3 - Comparison of sleeper materials (Ghorban, 2013)

The below tables provide a comparison of the various of track formation pros and cons for slab track and ballasted track. These focus on the perspective on subgrade only in terms of operations, installation and maintenance.

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Table 5.4- Pros and Cons of Slab Track vs Ballast Track (Stone, 2019)

In essence, both track designs have numerous benefits and disadvantages; the downside to ballasted track systems is the need for regular maintenance and upkeep, while on the other hand it’s a fraction of the cost of slab track. From an environmental perspective slab track will have a far higher initial carbon footprint over ballast; whereas, the regular replacement of ballast for the life span of the line could potentially outweigh the initial start.

Either system should review the LCA of extraction, transportation, install, operations and maintenance to review ways in reducing the capital and operational carbon from the start.

5.5 Track Sub-ballast

In track systems geometry, the sub-ballast is significant in high speed rail lines especially around the impact of rail deflections that can be up to 30% higher (Dong et al., 2019). High speed rail track earthwork designers will need to consider several areas including the damping, density (kg/m2), Poisson’s theory (ratio) , Young’s Modulus (MPa) and thickness (m) (Dong et al., 2019). A recent journal released in 2017 studied the option of using rubber tyres as a form of sub-ballast (Indraratna, Sun and Grant, 2017), the geometry allowed the tyres to align using their three dimensional cylindrical structure meaning they were able to offer excellent stabilisation properties and actually have the potential to improve the bearing capacity while reducing the frequency of maintenance over traditional natural aggregate.

The journal researcher tests a single rubber tyre initially through FEA vertical load testing before setting up a rig arrangement with a single rubber tyre and infill capping. Single plate load tests were then carried out to provide data from vertical loading. Initial testing suggests that the use of a rubber tyre could outperform natural aggregate sub-ballast, this can be seen in the below results shown in Figure 5.5. Test 1 provides the correlation of load on to the pressure sensor; test 2 undertakes the same test with the rubber tyre in situ. The results show that the rubber tyre can absorb a higher stress load while obtaining the same pressure reading.

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Figure 5.5 results of plate test loading using a 150mm thickness of sub-ballast (Indraratna, Sun and Grant, 2017)

In the next stage of the journal the author presents the system geometry for the sub-ballast to be 5m in width and 0.25m in thickness. The study then takes the heaviest users on the network being the freight sector with an average axle load of 25 tonnes corresponding to a static wheel load of 122.5N (Indraratna, Sun and Grant, 2017).

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Figure 5.6 - Track Geometry Sub-ballast with Rubber tyre reinforced capping (Indraratna, Sun and Grant, 2017)

The findings of the report provide evidence that the geotextile reinforcement of the rubber tyre could reduce the stress transmitted to the sub grade which in turn reduces the amount of conventional sub-ballast required. The design thickness can be dramatically reduced while still providing a 50% gain in stiffness over a sub-ballast capping layer composed of natural aggregate.

The cylindrical shape of the tyres containing the infill material help with minimising lateral displacement and provides a bearing capacity of up to 6500 KPa. The journal proposes the next stage of testing to review cyclic loading but with the inclusion of all other track components i.e. rail, sleepers and ballast.

Network Rail (NR) on average uses 2.6 million tonnes of ballast per year mainly during renewal projects; from this figure, 90% of existing ballast can be reusable (Franklin, 2006). The recycled ballast is normally transported for use in other industries. If there was a way to reduce the amount of ballast used it would not only reduce the mining requirements, but it could reduce the amount of transportation energy consumption. This means there is certainly a demand towards prolonging the ballast life cycle. (Franklin, 2006).

Track Sub-ballast Summary

Future railway projects in the UK will undoubtedly move towards more innovative technologies that are currently already in use oversees including slab track systems and even composite track systems. At present, one of the largest programme of works and costs for Network Rail is around track maintenance works includes re-ballasting hundreds of miles of track per year. (Franklin, 2006)

The LCA process for ballast currently has a high CO2 output in nearly every area of manufacturing, construction, maintenance, dismantling and recycling of the track bed components. Comparisons over concrete slab track show that the energy consumption and carbon emissions of traditional ballast track beds are associated with higher environmental burdens (M.Kiani, T.Parry, 2016).

The research in the use of a rubber tyre geometry could provide a route forward into future maintenance works for NR if the results of cyclic testing are successful. A retrospective rig providing a tyre configuration could be fitted in situ under the sleeper and rails using existing ballasting trains.

Additionally, exploration of using recycled tyres could significantly reduce the damage in recycling of rubber which has a large impact on the atmosphere and offer longer maintenance periodicities.

5.6 Alternative materials for Railway Sleepers

There is a vast amount of research around the world for the use of different sleeper materials, the railway is starting to discover alternative materials year on year. Axion International have been the pioneers, previously creating the first railway bridge in the world to be made from a thermoplastic composite, using a reinforced structural plastic composite. This comprises of a HDPE based recycled material with reinforced polypropylene coated glass fibres. (Ghorban, 2013)

Axion has since developed a polymeric composite railway sleeper, the sleeper is a polymer concrete with glass fibre reinforcement. The polymeric alternative has several advantages over inherent sleeper materials; these advantages include anti corrosion and chemical resistance, high tensile strength, robust and durable.

The sleeper weighs just 61kg which is far lighter than rival concrete sleepers (285kg per sleeper). (Ghorban, 2013) More importantly, the fibre composite materials use far less amounts of energy and release only a small amount of greenhouse gases in comparison. (Manalo et al., 2010)

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Figure 5.7 - Glass fibre reinforced polymer concrete sleeper (Ghorban, 2013)

Another dimension to the aforementioned polymer sleeper is the possible use of recycled plastics; in Germany, one organisation are exploring the option of using mixed plastics waste (MPW) along with glass fibre wastes and other axillary agents (Manalo et al., 2010). The product is expected to meet the required mechanical properties and show exceptional weather resistance. Unfortunately, the sleeper design is limited by their acceptance into standards and prohibitive costs.

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Table 5.5- Recent developments of alternative sleeper materials (Manalo et al., 2010

The above Table 5.5 shows countries that are currently developing composite alternatives; based on the information in the table some of the most advanced technological countries in the world are still in the trial or R&D stage of developing a suitable alternative. This could mean it will be several years before the world can benefit from the implemented products in supporting the build of a more sustainable railway in the future.

Table 5.6- Recycled sleeper technologies

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Table 5.6 provides suitable recycled sleeper alternatives, again, the products are still currently in development. The journal produced by Manalo et al in 2010 reviews alternative materials for replacing existing timber sleepers. The tested mechanical properties provide a higher compressive modulus and hardness over traditional sleepers and other alternatives. (Manalo et al., 2010). The sleepers are not yet competitive in price and will still need further development in other properties of the material including their excessive stiffness and inelasticity; however, could be invaluable moving into the future.

Alternative Materials for Railway Sleepers Summary

In summary further research and development time is required ensuring that the best and most practical product is implemented; some of the below need to be completed to progress further.

-A cost effective alternative needs to be proposed that still meets the all material properties.
-More performance history is required to instil confidence to operators.
-The alternative sleepers need to be incorporated into national and/or international standards.
-Further awareness of the products is required through field trials and support from institutions.

An opportunity moving forward for the organisations shown in the Table 5.6 on recycled sleeper technologies could be combining the two methods of using a recycled plastic with the expensive fibre reinforcement, which in turn will reduce the cost of fibre designs and improve the material properties on the recycled plastic designs.

5.7 Cost savings achieved in Carbon Reduction

The Infrastructure Carbon Review (ICR) is an institution based in the UK that have created a report released in 2018. The ICR has the full support of the UK Government in reviewing the value of low carbon solutions in communications, energy, transport, waste and water known as PAS2080 released by the HM Treasury and available on the government website.

The report sets out details on carbon reduction, cost saving linked to resource and energy efficiency. The report details areas of high Carbon emissions that are associated with construction, operations and maintenance and reviews options on climate change mitigation. (ICR, 2018).

In section 1.5, the report sets out the link of carbon reduction to resource efficiency and in turn offers a cost saving to the user. In the LCA, extraction and processing of resources requires significant energy (ICR, 2018). The cost saving is visible when the volume of materials is reduced, and resources are used more efficiency.

As detailed in section 2.10 of the literature review, the report stipulates the necessity for designers and suppliers having a significant influence in the initial RIBA design and development stages. Many of the opportunities include the use of innovate sustainable technologies or options in the use of renewable energy sources. Operations and maintenance for energy, carbon and cost savings is proven to be linked, much of the time the clients will decide to generate renewable energy themselves due to the longevity of energy saved over a long-term period.

In the last decade, there can be numerous examples of carbon saving linked to cost savings, PAS2080 details some of the most successful case studies in the UK. these include;

-Olympic Park, London (Detailed below)
-The Highways Agency - including M25 Widening and A21 Stocks Green Bypass

Embankment Stabilisation (Detailed below)

-Anglian Water (Discussed previously in section 2.10)

Olympic Park

The Olympic Park at London in 2012; became successful in reducing the capital carbon by a quarter across the whole infrastructure project between initial and construction stages when designing structures, bridges and highways. The original target was to become the ‘greenest Olympics ever’

Principle Designer (Arup) working closely with Principle Contractor (Balfour Beatty) in reviewing options to build less and build clever. Their idea was to use lightweight structures as a temporary solution with a smaller life expectancy, this allowed the project to use far less materials.

Modelling solutions were able to provide date for estimated crowd flows to ensure sizes of bridges could be reduced. Additionally, geotechnical testing meant that piles could be optimised resulting in reduced numbers of vibro concrete columns by 25% and flight augar piles by 10%. (ICR, 2018) In some parts of the build the design life was reduced to just four years and existing roads were utilised and incorporated into the new park highway reducing main highways materials including concrete, steel and asphalt.

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Figure 5.8 Top View of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Infrastructure Development (NLD, 2012)

The Olympic officials declared that the event build came £400m under budget. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) have stated that the money was transferred into new sports venues and training grounds within East London. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) stated that savings were made in the construction. (Dobson, 2012)

The management team from LOCOG believe that the following reasons below led to the success of keeping to the original bid on the Olympic Park developments.

-The time taken at the beginning prior to the build phase; meaning that the project scope, budget, and funding were all secured early.
-The correct people with the relevant practical skills were recruited early on. The project culture resulted in parties challenging topics and identification of support for innovative solutions.
-Sustainability was at every part of the delivery chain and embedded from the start. All targets were challenging for the best sustainable materials and resource efficiency with focus on carbon, water and waste.
-Lastly, an independent assurance body was employed to check credibility and safeguard.

(ICR, 2018)

UK Highway - M25 Widening

The UK highways agency assessed the M25 Widening back in 2009 when a case study was assessed to save 5% cost savings through reduction of 115,000 tonnes of carbon on a £1Bn highway upgrade. (ICR, 2018). The joint venture known as connect plus had a consortium of Skanska, Balfour Beatty, Atkins and Egis. The outturn cost of the 110,000 Tonne Carbon saving resulted in a £53million saving (5%). This was achieved by building efficiently during the widening of a 63km length of M25 motorway. (McCaffery, 2009)

The innovative build used the use of proprietary king sheet pile profile, with long piles interspersed with shorter intermediate piles, this resulted in an 80% reduction in capital carbon. (ICR, 2018).

Additional savings were made with the use of recycled aggregate and reduction of pavement thicknesses. This in turn reduced the installation time and improved safety meaning there was less time spent next to a live highway.

UK Highway - A21 Stocks Green Bypass

The A21 Stocks Green Bypass Embankment Stabilisation was an innovative earthwork solution finishing in March 2012 intended to reduce carbon emissions by 40% while aiming to reduce costs by a corresponding 30%.

Balfour Beatty and Mott MacDonald joined forces on a design and build joint venture to use a technique called electro-osmosis in combination with soil nailing and improving drainage to stabilise a failing due carriageway embankment in Kent. The 7m high embankment section known as a stocks green in Hidenborough was well populated with mature trees and rich wildlife (including endangered species) (EKG, 2012). This meant that the solution for the embankment stabilisation needed to have minimal impact to the environment.

The solution was achieved from a design company called Electro kinetics (EKG) who were able provide design plans for using 195 perforated steel tubes positioned into the ground shown in the image below. These tubes were angled downwards into the soil and half were angled upwards.

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Figure 5.9 - Electro-osmosis Example showing steel tubes positioned (EKG, 2012)

The Electro-osmosis process requires 100 Volts (DC) applied to the soil over an 8-week period to drive the pore water from the soil matrix into the steel tubes acting as drains (EKG, 2012), this mitigated the need to replace, reprofile or remove material from the embankment slope. As a result, no lanes were required to close, vegetation was largely undisturbed and carbon emissions were 70% lower than using a traditional granular fill. (ICR, 2018)

Stocks Green was the first example of electro-osmosis being used o a UK highway.

Later in 2012, the institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) recognised the project and awarded the EKG the innovation aware in its regional excellence awards. (EKG, 2012)

Summary of Cost Saving

The case studies in this section link cost saving to carbon emissions; with some common sense applied across the areas, the management teams have provided evidence to show that there can be significant carbon savings linked with costs. The below summarise the main points;

Reducing Life Cycle in Operational use: An opportunity discussed in the Olympic park development is on the requirements of the infrastructure life span many buildings, roads, bridges etc are built to last forever, but do they always need to be in operation forever? and should there be more focus on having shorter life spans for certain infrastructure projects? The only way of reviewing would be with the use of weighing up the reduced life span against a permanent structure using LCA strategies. As suggested on the Olympic Park development, using a shorter life span means temporary and lightweight structures reducing the cost of materials, transport and processing in parallel reducing the CO2 LCA.

Early Planning: A valid point brought up in the Olympic management feedback was to ensure planning starts as early as possible with regards to sustainability, which can provide an advantage going into the initial design stages, this also has the potential to save costs from change management during the other phases of design and construction and prevent construction re-work in later stages.

Recycling or Reuse of Infrastructure: In many of the case studies, it was discussed the importance to utilise existing infrastructure or recycled materials where possible reducing the need to extract raw materials and process. This can be a significant saving especially for large infrastructure projects.

Building Less can be more: In both case studies for the Olympics and the highway England projects, building less can be more in the sense of carbon reduction while using less material reducing the cost and still achieving the desired finish. In the embankment stabilisation project by the Highways England, the organisation were able to find less evasive technology to provide the same solution reducing CO2 by 40% and costs by 30% over traditional methods (ICR, 2018).

In many ways, new proven innovative technology should be implemented more widespread, with many organisations not having the excuse of additional cost being a problem. In this case, should there be more pressure from local authorities, the government and the UK Highways agency in supporting?

5.8 Sustainable Innovative Technologies

The use of new, innovative design and technologies is vital in the future of sustainability, below shows a chart providing the step by step process of a Carbon reduction curve comparable to the chart shown in the earlier section 2.10. The two main principles in Figure 5.10 below is challenging the root cause of carbon and achieving the desired outcome using alternative solutions.

The second is with build clever, using low carbon materials, streamlining processes and reducing resources. The chart shows the importance of starting at the earliest planning stages to meet 100% carbon reduction. In the table there are five stages of Planning, Design, Construction, Commissioning and Operations/Maintenance. The root cause of reducing carbon is now being challenged in building new assets in a more intellectual way to ensure that it demands a better performance. (New Civil Engineer, 2018)

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According to the Carbon Reduction article by New Civil Engineers published in November 2018, the review of carbon infrastructure allowed companies to focus on reducing emissions through reviewing the LCA including material extraction, processing, component manufacture, transport and construction (New Civil Engineer, 2018). The above Figure 5.10 provides a summary on how the percentage savings in CO2 have been achieved.

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Figure 5.10 Carbon Reduction Potential (ICR, 2018)

Environmentally friendly products for railway infrastructure projects

A company called Dura Composites are a pioneering UK railway technology business dealing in composite products on the railway. The products include flooring, structures and facades. Many of the products are made from either Fibreglass reinforced plastic (FRP) or Glass reinforced plastics (GRP). See CHAPTER 9 Appendix B.iii to see examples of Dura Composite Products.

Dura offer a guarantee long-life expectancy of 60 years with a 25-year warranty on the products. Many of the products are not required to be painted, designed to Network Rail standards, can be used in high voltage / anti-static areas and BS6339-1 heavy duty approved. (Retention and Solutions, no date).

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Figure 5.11 - Award winning Dura Composite platform(Stuart Burns, 2015)

In 2015, Dura Composites were awarded the ‘most innovative company’ at the European Business awards (Stuart Burns, 2015). The company was recognised in providing real world alternative products to replace existing traditional. The Dura Platform was mentioned during the ceremony; the platform can be used to replace, extend or renovate out of gauge platforms. The design can offer up to a 25% reduction over existing alternatives and can minimise operator and passenger disruption due to how quickly the solution can be installed. (Retention and Solutions, no date).

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Figure 5.12 Makeup of Dura Composite Platform (Stuart Burns, 2015)

In 2017, Dura Composites were awarded a £4.5m project for the Maidenhead Sidings part of Network Rails Great Western Main Line. Dura Composites products were chosen by Balfour Beatty, recognised for their zero-carbon strategy. The sidings feature several GRP modular access platforms and GRP walkways. The products were selected due to the non-conductive properties when working near overhead line equipment (OLE). (Stuart Burns, 2015)

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Figure 5.13 An image of Maidenhead Sidings Platform example (Dura, 2018)

In 2018, Network Rail worked alongside Dura in developing the products to ensure they meet British and European fire safety standards. The products were all tested to meet Class 1 and resisted the spread of flames more than any other products currently on the market. (Dura, 2018).

Summary of GRP/FRP products vs. concrete as an alternative

GRP may not always withstand the impact of a barrier stop block like concrete could, but when discussing the development for platform, structures and facades; GRP can be well suited. The lightweight properties of GRP already reduce the CO2 in transportation. Additionally, this may also reduce the amount of machinery required during the installation stages.

In terms of durability, GRP can offer many of the same properties as Concrete such as frost, rust and rot resistance (Europlanters, 2018). In recent years the support from worldwide institutions such as the Japan Society for Civil Engineers have been instrumental in development of reinforcing composite materials to align with concrete properties.

When forming and making changes to pre cast concrete in the errection stages on site it can be incredibly difficult especially when trying to avoid causing any structural damage to the concrete. GRP can offer the ability to make changes quickly without the risk of long-term structural damage. Overall there are many factors that have benefits over concrete and even when taking cost into consideration the differences can be marginal.

The potential for composites to reduce GHG emissions is clear especially with many options of GRP and FRPs available to meet the scope requirements. What is the key point to be aware of?

The difficult of recycling glass reinforced plastic (GRP) is currently a big stumbling block in construction especially with the pressure to recycle materials from site. At present, GRP is expensive and not environmentally friendly due to the largest option being a landfill.

Several articles are available in suggesting economically sustainable methods all in introductory phases. In the West Midlands, ELG Carbon Fibre undertake pyrolysis-based carbon fibre recycling but at ten times the cost of glass its not easy to make it commercially viable as an option (Job, 2013).

This is not to say that at some point new recycling technologies and methods will be available.

5.9 Renewable Energy in Construction

Renewable energy solutions are becoming increasing popular in UK Construction projects, recently there have been a few examples of renewable energy companies partnering up with a main contractor. A recent example can be the phase 2 expansion of Plymouth City Councils Business Park. If the company are involved early enough in the project there can be a significant reduction in energy consumption these can be in excess of £1m. (IU Energy, 2018)

An advantage of using a renewable energy company at the beginning is that buildings can be built with pre allocated space for roof solar energy construction or internally for extensive CHP (Combined Heat and Power) installations. (IU Energy, 2018). This means that installation can be very straightforward and very rewarding in terms of energy saving.

In new developments there can be a lot of scope for renewable energy sources during the construction and infrastructure to reduce the impact of climate change. Local planning authorities are best placed in understanding the opportunities and constraints of the local areas. Local authorities need to be encouraging effective climate change mitigation and adoption of new technologies for all new construction developments, they play a crucial role going forward in the fight against reducing emissions with renewable energy in construction.

So, why is renewable energy increasingly important to construction projects?

Existing Coal Power Plants

The effects of a coal power plant has been known for a long time, a typical coal powered power plant capacity is around 305MW (Source Watch, 2011) making it a simple way to generate huge amounts of power easily, at present there are still around 50,000 coal power plants worldwide (Source Watch, 2011), many people are aware of the dangers to health of coal power station emissions and recently more awareness on the environment damage has become public.

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Figure 5.14 - image or smoke from coal power plant chimneys (UCS, 2017)

When coal is burnt carbon atoms are broken down releasing energy, unfortunately during the chemical reaction this results in toxic airborne pollutants and damage to air pollution in the environment (Source Watch, 2011), which include the following;

Mercury - In 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated that US coal power plants emitted 21,172kg making it responsible for 42% of US mercury emissions(UCS, 2017). This can cause many problems to human health including nervous, digestive and immune systems; additionally, this poses a more serious threat to a child’s development.

Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) - In 2014, US Coal power plants emitted more than 3.1m Tonnes of SO2 (UCS, 2017), the damage of the sulphur contributes to the damage to ecosystems, acidifies lakes and streams and causes acid rain. The human impact is damage to the lungs heavily linked with asthma and bronchitis.

Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)- 1.5 million tonnes of nitrous oxide was recorded to be emitted in 2014 (UCS, 2017). NOx is responsible for smog in the environment and effects people’s lungs often making people more susceptible to chronic respiratory diseases such as pneumonia or influenza.

Others elements include; Particulate Matter (Soot), Carbon Monoxide, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), Arsenic and Cadmium.

Out of all the previously detailed emissions none are as harmful or permanent to global warming on the environment as Methane (CH4) and Carbon Dioxide (CO2). These two main emissions pose profound human and ecological disruption long term (UCS, 2017).

CO2 is the main by-product of coal combustion, estimates state that there is 4g of CO2 produced for every gram of carbon burnt (UCS, 2017). Typically, coal can contain as much as 60-80% carbon.

Methane has been somewhat been overlooked in the study, however CH4 is 34 times stronger than carbon dioxide at trapping hear over a period 100 years (UCS, 2017). At present coal powered power stations account for nearly 10% of all Methane emissions.

New and Upcoming Renewable UK Energy Sources

The below image in Figure 5.15 show examples of renewable energy projects that are currently being undertaken in the UK. The examples show wind, solar, biomass and tidal all of which will

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Figure 5.15 Renewable Energy project in the UK (Greenmatch,2016) contribute to the eradication of coal powered power stations as new innovative technology continues to develop increased methods of obtaining electrical power sources.

Details of the renewable power projects are detailed below:

Vine Farm

The project is being led by BayWa r.e, a German owned renewable energy company. The company builds solar and wind parks in the UK. Vine Farm in South Cambridgeshire has a total capacity of 260MW becoming the largest solar project for the business covering over 250 acres. The project went into operation in 2017.

Lynemouth

EPH, a Czech utility company purchased the ex-coal power plant in 2016 and transformed into a biomass power plant. The power station is estimated to generate 420MW of electricity by burnng wooden pellets. The conversation cost for the station is approximately £350 million and was in use by 2017.

Kilgallioch

The completion of the windfarm in Dumfries and Galloway County, Scotland has become one of the largest renewable sources for an onshore wind farm, providing up to 239MW during operations. In total the site is made up of 96 Gamesa turbines over 32km[2] area.

Rampion

The offshore wind farm is being led by E.ON just 13km off the coast of Sussex. The windfarm has a total of 116 turbines manufactured by Vestas at a height of 140m and covering 72km[2].

The windfarm has a capacity of £400.2MW.

MeyGen

This is an ocean energy project currently underway known as MeyGen tidal energy project, estimating to create 398MW. The tidal energy programme is located near Pentland Firth. The project will be constructed of 269 turbines laid out in 3.5km[2] and estimated to live from 2020.

Summary of renewable energy

In summary the focus needs to be in using existing coal power stations around the UK and moving towards transforming them into biomass power plants, this would mean that it would not affect local unemployment and support in providing a key energy source into the grid. Additionally, in the alternative energy sources above solar power is by far the most cost effective in terms of cost to power generated. There should be more focus in local areas in supporting the move to fit solar panel roofing and other solar panel technologies to reduce the amount of energy in residential and commercial buildings but even in transport systems. The UK has hundreds of miles of track running throughout, if there was an opportunity to fit solar panels to 15m gantry towers on OLE it could support with reducing the amount of energy taken from grid.

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

6.1 Discussion

Zero Carbon

The Committee on Climate Control (CCC) set the target of zero carbon by 2050; at the start of the study this statistic seemed unrealistic despite having a 30-year duration to achieve the target. Following the research undertaken and from an innovative, technology perspective on zero carbon, it could be argued that the technology to achieve this could be available by the end of 2020, with the introduction of new alternative materials, renewable energy and environmentally friendly manufacturing processors.

Carbon reduction is not embedded into society and it’s the mindset that needs to be changed in the UK in order to increase the backing for greener infrastructure developments. The changes to achieve this target will need to come from political and cultural leaders; At present, the cultural issue is finding a leader that understands the problems and will be willing to mandate carbon neutral technologies into use; leaders need to understand the source of the GHG concerns otherwise necessary changes will never get decided.

The negative perceptions on new, carbon friendly emerging products often mean that there is a reluctance to adopt new methods or innovations into live projects. The reasoning behind this can be for the fear of the product not being suitable or acceptable and with the perception of any cost increases. This is a short-term thought process resisting change and causing long term side effects.

The UK needs to be encouraging a younger generation to adopt innovative practises that are sustainable and environmentally friendly and allowing organisations to understand the difference between risk aware and risk averse. Politically, one of the most frequently discussed solutions is to implement an emissions cap or carbon pricing system(Chelsea Harvey, 2018), lots of policies are available but none are mandatory, often showing inconsistencies and unclear remits.

Material Selection

The urgency to start carbon reduction methods at the beginning of infrastructure projects could not have been more clear, this is vital in the sense of ensuring that requirements are caught as early as the tender stages shown in Figure 5.10.

Designers can decrease the carbon in material selection at the conceptual design stages (RIBA 2); however, often at the point where carbon can be reduced, the opportunities are missed or overlooked.

By influencing the client’s behaviour there is a potential to implement greener materials, conversely many clients are looking at financial short-term investments in builds with long term returns. In the UK, financial figures currently take priority over emissions saving.

Life cycle costs need to be linked to carbon with a structured feasibility plan to show that carbon reduced materials can offer the same benefits as traditional materials at the same cost. Other reasons for clients choosing to avoid using carbon friendly materials can be operational inefficiencies with unproven materials or products meaning risk taking on whether the material will meet the criteria.

If the government or local authorities were to offer more incentives to clients or designers in rewarding them for innovative sustainable infrastructure, this could support a cultural change.

HS2 Political vs Environmental

The UK is in the process of a back stage political battle, out of sight from the public eye on the next stages of the development of HS2, an official commitment to continue funding and its commitment to sustainable policies has still not been confirmed from the Government, after HS2 recently has come under fire by the media for going over budget discussed in the interview stage of section 4.3.

The programme is running behind schedule by 4-5 years and now estimated to not have HS2 phase 2 operable until 2040, according to the HS2 interviewee source in section 4.3. The benefit of the programme running late can offer advantages to the project on new technologies and advancements on sustainable products. BRE has built a collaboration with HS2 which is the first time BRE has supported any railway project using BREEAM (Snowhill and Queensway, 2017). HS2 has committed to using an excellent rated BREEAM infrastructure.

An observation on how this could be controlled is with the use of the HS2 supply chain, by using the public procurement sector there’s an opportunity to standardise requirements on reduced low carbon materials and effective challenge and measure supplier’s ability to reduce CO2 emissions through the life cycle process of the material. It would be important to find a way to measure this process accurately to ensure that CO2 improvements can be recorded.

6.2 Conclusion

There will always be a need for new infrastructure to accommodate social and economic demand, moving into the future the difficulty will be reviewing ways to achieve more from existing assets and building less while still increasing the capacity to meet customer requirements and increased train capacities on the rail network.

Many of the carbon saving opportunities will be about thinking out of the box including modernising existing infrastructures, overhauling and adapting the network. If these opportunities are taken there will be potential ways to link large cost savings into future projects. Many of the cost savings discussed in section 5.7 are a result of recycling, the use of existing assets or the use of new technologies.

In general, large infrastructure projects and even publicised Government projects are lacking the commitment from Government environmental specialists to enforce and demand stricter sustainability policies.

At present, many projects award their contracts based on the price or timescales and not necessary on the sustainability the company or contractor can offer. Many organisations will continue to win work based on undercutting and offering the lowest price, conversely there are very good examples of organisations that are trying to implement zero carbon strategies. The future relies on a move from all organisations to support in ensuring sustainable policies are embedded and projects factor in carbon reduction methods from the start. Many organisations will continue to take the easy route until policies become mandatory by the government or local authorities.

In terms of the future of HS2, it’s not confirmed but it’s likely to be slab track arrangement for phase one based on the earlier output of the HS2 interview (section 4.3.); the large quantities of concrete required to achieve the build should be passed through a life cycle analysis to understand if the damage of CO2 presents unnecessary emissions and still aligns with the HS2 sustainability policies set out. Concrete production organisations are accountable for 7% of global emissions worldwide (Deja J, Uliasz-Bochenczyk A, 2010), the damaging activity to the environment is specifically during the calcination process, detailed earlier in section 5.2. The construction industry is a powerful conglomerate worldwide and therefore there could show heavy resistance in moving towards stringent legislations which may lead to disruption in sales.

Either way, more technology should be pursued detailed in section 5.2 on current projects overseen by the European Cement Association and with more sustainable alternative materials now available on the market it makes it more competitive in keeping the costs lower.

Using the awareness on carbon emissions from section 5.3, it’s imperative that HS2 take on some of the opportunities to reduce the carbon emissions in concrete.

Implementing Frameworks

A way of quantifying and reducing the carbon footprint on rail infrastructure projects is to use a framework approach, organisations have the option of adopting the carbon maturity matrix which is an existing template available from PAS 2080 approved by the ICR seen in the below Table 6.1. The table is split into five sections, which includes:

-Effective leadership (Vison, Value and Policies)
-Cultural and communication (Behaviour, Communication and Skills)
-Metrics and Governance (Baselines, Targets, Tools, Visibility and Governance)
-Innovation and Standards
-Commercial Solutions (Procurement, Reward and Integration)

Each of the above sections presents an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions on the project and rates the user into three categories shown below:

-Level 1 Foundation
-Level 2 Embed and Practise
-Level 3 Leader

The matrix can be used at a business level or a project level to support in moving over to be a more sustainable outfit. There should be no reason to why all projects and businesses cannot begin the process of adopting this framework moving into the future.

Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Materials for UK Railway Infrastructure

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Table 6.1 - Carbon maturity matrix (HM Treasury, 2013).

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Table 6.2 Carbon maturity matrix(HM Treasury, 2013)

More specifically on the materials selection, there could be an opportunity to embed a process within the procurement stage within infrastructure projects that offers an opportunity to rate the material based on questionnaire framework approach. This could then be linked to the above carbon maturity matrix within procurement (commercial solutions).

The questions will largely be based on recycling, location, transportation, processors, installation and renewable energy sources. Below is a simple example using a points system (1-10); the material with the lowest score is the material with the lowest carbon footprint:

Example:

1.Can alternative materials or recycled materials be used to reduce carbon rather than having to be extracted from the ground?

Yes(1)Somewhat (2) No (3)

2.Can the material be transported locally within approx. 50 miles?

Yes(1)Somewhat (2) No (3)

3.Can the transportation be assessed in finding a method of reducing the CO2?

Yes(1) Somewhat (2) No (3)

4.If the Material is being processed or machined can this be achieved with Zero Carbon with the use of renewable energy sources?

Yes(1)Somewhat (2) No (3)

5.Can Energy Consumption be reduced during the construction phase with the use of low carbon construction equipment?

Yes(1) Somewhat (2) No (3)

5 Excellent Carbon Rating

10 Good Rating

15 Poor Rating

In the same way to the BREEAM frameworks, an outputted number is provided at the end to give a carbon rating on the material. The example above is relatively straightforward to achieve and would support in ensuring that project materials procured could offer advantages to the carbon footprint and provide ratings into a guidance or reference book for greener materials.

Limitation of the study

In the period of writing the thesis, many barriers were hit, and dead ends found with research material often not available. Despite HS2 being a government funded public project, the information published is limited to the public and therefore difficult to get definitive details. Equally, BRE were unwilling to help with any questions regarding their policy with HS2 that contributed to difficulties with knowing what their scope of work included.

Additionally, under unfortunate circumstances only one out of the three planned interviews went ahead, which resulted in obtaining less data in the primary research section. During the online survey there could have been more focus on demographics and social study of behaviours towards sustainability, which could have offered another dimension to the report in psychology. An exercise could have been undertaken in reviewing the data from participants on their experience vs their sustainability views, to understand whether there is a correlation between generation and sustainability.

6.3 Recommendations for industry and research

Industry

-Implementation of a carbon friendly material selection framework that reviews opportunities to use alternative materials, recycled or re-use of material (example above)
-Review options of new renewable energy sources where possible to support operational infrastructure i.e. tidal, solar, biomass, wind etc.
-Provide appropriate training courses to offer awareness to employees and support in changing the organisational culture.
-Plan for Zero Carbon at the earliest opportunity of projects and set targets.
-Build less and demand more.

Research

-Review the option of using a zero-carbon process for concrete production, including the use of renewable energy sources and alternative by-products to see whether it can be achieved.
-Find a solution into reducing the energy requirements on composite material recycling to make it a more suitable product in infrastructure.
-Gather more primary research data on infrastructure builds to understand limitations from a design and construction perspective on materials.

CHAPTER 7 REFERENCES

ASBL (2009) Sustainable Benefits of Concrete Structures, European Concrete Platform. Benz, I. N. and C. R. (1998) Qualitative Quantitative Research Methodology Exploring the Interative Continuum. 2nd edn. Edited by C. and Edwardsville. Illinois, USA: Southern Illinois University Press.

Board, T. S. (2014) Carbon Dioxide in Construction. Available at: www.designbuildings.co.uk.

Bressi, S. et al. (2018) ‘Resources , Conservation & Recycling A comparative life-cycle assessment of asphalt mixtures for railway sub- ballast containing alternative materials’, Resources, Conservation & Recycling. Elsevier, 137(November 2017), pp. 76-88. doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.05.028.

Burgess R.G (1989) The Ethics of Educational Research. 8th edn. Pyschology Press.

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CHAPTER 8 APPENDIX A - TABLES & DATA

i. Embodied Energy and CO2 estimating emission in construction materials.

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Architecture and the environment. Comparison of building elements Life Cycle Analysis, New Zealand Institute of Architects; D2. Maria Jesus Gonzalez.

ii. Emissions Factor of CO2 emissions in each Railway Infrastructure element

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iii. Online Survey Results (Newton, 2019)

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Note from the editor: This image was removed due to privacy concerns of the participants.

iv. BREEAM Response Letter

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CHAPTER 9 APPENDIX B - REPORTS & SUPPORTING INFORMATION

1.Annex 1 HS2 Ltd.’s Sustainability Policy

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11. HS2 Ltd Environmental Commitment

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iii. Examples of Dura Composite Products.

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CHAPTER 10 ETHICAL CLEARANCE NOTIFICATION

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[...]

• Hochschule: Freie Universität Berlin (Loughborough University)
• Veranstaltung: Construction Project Management
• Note: 2,1
• Autor: Luke Newton (Autor:in)
• Erscheinungsjahr: 2019
• Seiten: 104
• Katalognummer: V1355150
• ISBN (PDF): 9783346868893
• ISBN (Buch): 9783346868909
• Sprache: Englisch
• Schlagworte: Zero Emission Railway technologies