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United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Climate change is the biggest challenge that humanity has ever faced. Communities worldwide are under immediate threat from flood, fire, and destruction of resources. Long-term, unless we make significant changes now, the outlook is not good.

Making changes means facing some uncomfortable truths. The fact is that the construction industry is responsible for a lot of environmental damage. Concrete has been described as ‘the most destructive material on earth’, with a carbon footprint that would make an airline gasp.

Construction and the built environment contribute to about 40% of the UK’s total carbon footprint (UKGBC, 2019) and produces 40% of the UK’s waste (RICS, 2020).

It also has significant impacts on biodiversity, air pollution, and habitat destruction.

It’s beyond time that the construction industry faced up to these hard truths and started making changes. We are committed to becoming sustainable in every way that we can.

We try our hardest to work in a way that won’t compromise future generations. To achieve this, we’ve aligned ourselves with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

These are:

No Poverty
Zero Hunger
Good Health and Wellbeing
Quality Education
Gender Equality
Clean Water and Sanitation
Affordable and Clean Energy
Decent Work and Economic Growth
Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
Reduced Inequalities
Sustainable Cities and Communities
Responsible Consumption and Production
Climate Action
Life Below Water
Life on Land
Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Partnerships

We can make the biggest difference by focusing on goals 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15.

Here’s how:

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Meet the team

Ikaros Solar

We approached JP Concrete to design and supply a large quantity of ballast blocks over a short period of time. The level of customer service was outstanding, staff were polite and dealt with our orders quickly and efficiently. The product was delivered as specified and on-time. In summary an exceptional service and we look forward to working with JP Concrete again.

Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.

What it is:
Goal 9 is all about providing resilient and inclusive infrastructure for future generations. It also incorporates sustainable industrialisation, to foster innovation and ensure healthy communities and economies in decades to come.

What we’re doing:

Our self-healing concrete is durable and resilient. It’s the perfect material for a more sustainable infrastructure.

We foster innovation through partnerships with universities and agencies both in-house and externally. For example, we are currently partnered with the Ecostructures Project to design nature-based solutions to human construction problems.

We share our knowledge with government agencies and construction and engineering companies.

We are dedicated to using nature-based solutions, while simultaneously making our precast concrete products much more durable and resilient. We hope that they will continue to serve the planet for generations to come.

Our designs are smarter and more sustainable than traditional designs. Their carbon footprint is much lower, and their environmental impact is massively reduced.

Our tree-planting project will remove millions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere over time, leaving a cleaner, safer planet for future generations.

Goal 13 – Climate Action

What it is:

Climate change is currently wreaking havoc through hurricanes, forest fires, floods and more.

The use of renewables in building design, energy-efficient techniques, and cutting-edge engineering can help slow down climate change.

Climate change is an urgent situation, and action is needed right now. However, by pulling together and making immediate changes, the construction industry can reduce global energy use and cut emissions to deliver a greener planet for all.

What we’re doing:

We are cutting carbon everywhere within our organisation. For example, we are working towards going paperless as a company, using water filters at work, and considering the carbon cost of travelling to work.

We use, design, and promote low carbon construction options. Our Sensicrete mix has a hugely reduced carbon footprint and presents a significant step towards sustainable, low-carbon construction.

Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

What it is:

Sustainable cities and communities are safe, inclusive, reliable, and resilient. Achieving this needs accessible support for skill development, access to technology, and inclusive urban development.

Increasing the amount of nature in urban areas will also help with this goal. We think this is one area in which we can make a real difference. By working with nature in our designs, we can improve biodiversity, offset global carbon, and improve the built environment for humans and wildlife alike.

What we’re doing:

We are working with the Environment Agency to repair and build infrastructure like coastal defences that meet their sustainability goals.

Our living walls bring structures to literal life. Also known as ‘green walls’, our grey walls are covered with plant life. They provide habitat, enrich the environment, and look fantastic into the bargain. Our living walls can be retrofitted to structures or added to existing precast products.

Sensicrete is low carbon. We manufacture a range of precast concrete products which reduce embodied carbon by 50% per m3 compared to a usual CEM1 mix.

Sensicrete is also self-healing. Powered by award-winning technology, our ultra-durable self-healing concrete increases the lifespan of structures and removes the need for repair. It saves substantial maintenance costs and adds an extra layer of protection for steel reinforcements.

Goal 14 – Life Below Water

What it is:

The ocean isn’t just beautiful. It’s also one of the planet’s most essential resources.

Oceans and coastal and marine resources play an essential role in human well-being and social and economic development worldwide.

Oceans are particularly crucial for coastal communities, which represented 37% of the global population in 2010.

Preserving and improving our oceans and coasts is vital for a sustainable future.

What we’re doing:

When building submerged structures, we balance the pH of our concrete to make it safe for marine life.

Our submerged structures use biomimicry to sustain instead of destroying habitats. The designs mimic the shapes of nature, enabling them to provide viable habitat and works in harmony with nature rather than obstructing it. Many of the problems construction faces have already been solved by nature – so why not copy them?

Through TreeNation, we are investing in the repair and preservation of mangrove swamps in coastal regions. These enrich the environment and provide valuable resources for local communities.

Goal 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production

What it is:

Our current patterns of production and consumption are burning through resources at a terrible rate. If we don’t switch to more responsible and sustainable ways of constructing, there will be nothing left for future generations.

What we’re doing:

Our low-carbon concrete significantly reduces the quantities of cement we need to use without affecting performance or structural design.

Adding self-healing additives to the concrete mix makes our concrete much more durable and sustainable.

We utilise reusable steel moulds, which can be used hundreds of times before being responsibly recycled.

We harvest rainwater and recycle dirty water for reuse.

We focus on sustainable consumption both within and without the company. At all levels, we aim to do more with less and to slash waste.

Goal 15 – Life on Land

What it is:

We need to restore and protect terrestrial ecosystems. This involves making sure that we’re using the land sustainably.

To combat desertification, halt and reverse degradation, and reverse the loss of biodiversity, we need to make big changes in the way we view, use, and build upon our land.

What we’re doing:

We protect resources by casting products in reusable and recyclable steel moulds.

Where we need to use wood for bespoke products, we make sure it comes from sustainable sources and that it is reused or recycled later.

Our ambitious tree-planting project aims to plant enough trees over the next three decades to absorb 6 million kg of Co2 over their lifetime.

Cormac Solutions

We needed a company who could provide a complete solution, we made JP Concrete aware of the critical timeframe for a major delivery of salt and true to their word, they pulled everything out of the bag. This has been an outstanding collaborative effort with only a tight window of less than two weeks for JP Concrete to get in and carry out their work. We worked closely together on having the old retaining walls removed, crushed and recycled, which completed an excellent job all round.

Get a quote or advice from the team today.