Emission-busting Concretene raises £8m from investors led by LocalGlobe to bring greener, cheaper concrete to market

In what could be a significant step towards reducing the impact that construction projects have on the planet, the founders of a graphene-enhanced additive to concrete have raised £8 million in seed funding from tech investor LocalGlobe to accelerate its research and commercial development.

Known as ConcreteneTM, the innovative building material has been developed by Nationwide Engineering Research and Development (NERD) in partnership with The University of Manchester’s Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC). Concretene has the potential to significantly cut the carbon impact of standard concrete, while being stronger and more durable. Since it can be used in the same way as regular concrete, it offers a non-disruptive solution for the global construction industry.

The funding was led by renowned early-stage investor LocalGlobe, one year on from the world’s first commercial usage of Concretene for a mezzanine floor at Mayfield Depot, the £1bn Manchester regeneration project bringing a disused railway depot back to life as an arts and culture venue.

The fundraising comes as NERD moves into the next phase of commercialisation of the pioneering material and is working on multiple strategic partnerships with potential customers including Heathrow and Manchester Airport, Network Rail, Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency. Work will also soon begin on the first road trial of Concretene with National Highways.

To date, more than 50 clients across the transport, construction and government sectors have signed up to use Concretene as part of ongoing projects. This latest funding round will enable NERD to build on this momentum and generate further proof of Concretene’s transformative potential on a wider commercial scale. Following the investment NERD will also develop a new facility to be located in ID Manchester - a new £1.5bn innovation district being delivered as a joint venture between Bruntwood SciTech, the UK’s leading property provider dedicated to the growth of the science and technology sector and The University of Manchester.

The problem with concrete

Approximately 14 billion m3 of concrete is poured globally each year which equates to over 32 billion tonnes or 1,070 tonnes per second. If concrete were a country, it would be the world’s third-biggest CO₂ polluter behind China and the USA. At the root of this problem is concrete’s reliance on cement. To keep up with huge global demand, cement production is currently at around 150 tonnes per second. Consequently, the global cement industry already accounts for more than 7% of global CO₂ emissions.

With the UN stating that 75% of the world’s infrastructure planned for 2050 is still to be built, cement production is expected to double by 2030. Hence the scale of the CO₂ problem in this industry is one of mankind’s biggest challenges globally and the current status quo is simply not sustainable.

The power of graphene

With Concretene, Nationwide Engineering’s Alex McDermott and Rob Hibberd, working alongside scientists from the GEIC, found a way to significantly improve the performance of concrete by adding a graphene formulation into the hydration process. Concretene deployed on real-world construction projects has shown increases in strength up to 30-50% over control batches, while subsequent lab tests have seen strength gains up to and even above 100%. This offers the potential for cement content to be significantly reduced without losing performance.

Graphene is a two-dimensional material, comprising a single layer of carbon atoms. It’s recognised as one of the most significant material discoveries of recent years because its 2D nature gives it a number of unique properties. It is exceedingly strong, light, super-flexible and is the most conductive material of both electricity and heat ever discovered. Yet it’s also hydrophobic by nature which means getting it to mix, interact and disperse in a hydrophilic material such as concrete is highly complicated.

Until recently, producing graphene at a scale large enough for it to be used in real-world applications was challenging. But with graphene suppliers now able to produce material by the kilogramme and tonne, and with prices falling rapidly, graphene is becoming a realistic option for use at commercial scale. Crucially, only very low dosages of the material, in some cases less than 0.01%, are required to deliver substantial performance gains. This means that Concretene is commercially viable with wholesale costs to be in-line with existing additives already used in the concrete industry.

Working together with materials scientists at Manchester’s GEIC, NERD’s engineers have been able to introduce small amounts of graphene during the concrete mixing procedure. Specifically, the graphene in Concretene acts as both mechanical support and as an active surface for different chemical reactions that take place during the cement hydration and hardening process of concrete.

Stronger, more sustainable construction

Concretene significantly reduces the amount of material needed to achieve the equivalent structural performance. Curing times are also reduced, with Concretene achieving levels of strength in as little as 24 hours that would usually be expected in 28 days.

Other benefits include reduced shrinkage and cracking, whilst increased density significantly reduces the porosity of the concrete. These factors will enable engineers to reduce the volume of concrete required in designs going forward, further reducing the CO₂ impact.

Concretene is therefore able to directly lower concrete’s carbon footprint and cost while indirectly reducing the need for anti-crack steel reinforcement, saving material and time on site and reducing maintenance costs over the lifetime of the concrete due to reduced porosity. Having been developed to work with existing concrete production processes, Concretene can already be used in virtually any concrete and is a liquid which is added directly into the concrete lorry at the batching plant. The innovation has been widely recognised across the construction industry, with several high-profile awards including the prestigious Institution of Civil Engineers Mercer Award for Innovation.

As professional civil engineers, we understand how the construction industry designs and uses concrete. From the outset, it was clear that Concretene had to be non-disruptive and align with existing codes and standards. Using revolutionary nanomaterial technology, developed with our partners at the GEIC, we have been able to create a brilliant new material product that is easy for the industry to adopt. With more than 1,000 tonnes poured in real-world projects already and significant funding for the next stage of product development with our partners and stakeholders, we are looking forward to developing Concretene into a global brand.

Rob Hibberd, Co-founder of Concretene