C-Probe are delighted to announce that we have won the ‘Environment and Sustainability Initiative of The Year’ at the 2023 British Construction Industry Awards (BCIA). BCIA, which is jointly organised by New Civil Engineer and the Institution of Civil Engineers, crowned the winners of a variety of categories focused on sustainability and innovation on 11th October at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.
Celebrating its 36th anniversary in 2023, the BCIA brought together more than 1,000 of the UK’s leading clients, consultants and contractors for a glittering evening of celebration, recognition and networking.
The ‘Environment and Sustainability Initiative of The Year’ category recognises a specific project-based initiative that involves a low carbon solution, specifically boosting the whole life performance and improving environmental sustainability. We created a submission named ‘Whole Life Preservation of Embodied Carbon and Structural Resilience’ focusing on our restoration work completed on the Omni Centre Car Park in Edinburgh. After face-to-face review by a panel of expert judges, C-Probe won!
Figure 1 – Chases filled in at the Omni Centre Car Park
We designed, manufactured and supplied the low carbon materials and management systems which would provide long-term control over the corrosion issue that was affecting the safety and functionality of the busy 4-level car park. Impressed Current Cathodic Protection (ICCP) was adopted as a protection method where existing high corrosion risk was most prevalent along with high chloride concentrations within the concrete cover. This strategy was adopted to ramps and decks on certain levels of the structure, and concrete repairs were protected with galvanic anodes (GCP) with the remaining deck areas receiving surface-applied corrosion inhibitor.
+chase® was adopted as the anode material for this project – this is manufactured from novel binders of repurposed industrial wastes in the form of alkali-activated cementitious materials (AACM geopolymer) with a carbon emission (CO2e) some 90% less than Portland CEM1, and 50-67% less than other CEM categories. They are also empathic in use with the parent concrete as the geopolymer materials bond as a mortar within chases to the parent concrete with hardening characteristics in compressive and flexural strengths similar to the existing structure.
Collaborating with Makers Construction Ltd, the chosen contractor, and the overseeing engineer, Waterman Structures, installation was successfully carried out helping to preserve over 8 million kg of embodied carbon for over 25 years with targeted and minimal repair, adding a mere 90,000 additional kg of carbon. The corrosion management strategy also included online control and performance assessment of the installed system tracking service life with data to prove its resilience into the future. The use of such remote contact minimises the need for travel to site contributing to the low carbon sustainability approach to the project.
The judges commented on our submission and presentation:
Omni Car Park continues to be protected to do this day. Our methods of sustainable resilience use low carbon materials, such as +chase®, integrated within a long-term strategy which preserves the structure’s embodied carbon for generations, whilst harnessing structural data to continuously assess performance for transparency and accountability around corrosion rate.
Figure 2 and 3 – During and completed works at the car park
Belinda Smart, deputy editor of New Civil Engineer, commented:
“The standard across all award categories was particularly impressive this year. The BCIA programme not only celebrates excellence in the construction industry but enables industry peers and colleagues to share knowledge and innovation and to inspire each other. With climate change and rising costs continuing to present sectoral and societal challenges, this year’s winners demonstrate industry’s willingness and ability to rise to those challenges, with solutions that benefit the wider community.”
The full list of winners can be found at: https://bcia.newcivilengineer.com/
