The issue

The products and materials that Tarmac makes are essential for many different aspects of our lives and for the UK's economic success. Because they are used so widely, they have a key role to play in delivering sustainable construction and helping to meet the UK Government's sustainability targets. This means we must ensure our products are extracted, manufactured and transported in the most sustainable way, and that, once in situ, they deliver maximum performance.

Today's society has very different needs compared to 1903, when we patented the first tarmacadam surface. While there is more pressure on resources from a growing population and developing economies, there is also a deeper understanding of how society’s activities – such as the consumption of finite natural resources and reliance on fossil fuels – impact climate change, water conservation, biodiversity and our overall energy security.

There is also a growing acknowledgement that the way we design our built environment, the methods of construction and the materials we use need to evolve if we are to move towards a more sustainable future. Government legislation and an increasing number of codes and standards further reinforce the need to integrate sustainable practices and products into the way we build and the way we do business.

UK Government Strategy for Sustainable Construction

In 2008, the UK Government published its Strategy for Sustainable Construction (and its progress report, Emerging Findings, in 2009). This recognises that the built environment has a major influence on our overall environmental and sustainability performance.

The strategy underlines the need for the construction industry to change the way we design and build, by focusing on sustainable construction practice and whole-life performance, and it sets out a series of targets and actions for the next ten years.

This shift to a more sustainable approach to construction, with the setting of specific targets, aligns well with Tarmac’s own long-term sustainability strategy, in particular, reducing CO₂ emissions from buildings and the built environment through more energy-efficient designs and materials.

Low Carbon Construction – Innovation and Growth Team

The UK Government has recognised the pivotal role that the construction industry has to play in achieving its climate change targets.

In September 2009, the UK Government established the Construction Innovation and Growth Team (IGT), which is developing a roadmap for how the construction industry will contribute to the creation of a low-carbon economy. Tarmac is actively supporting this work. IGT published its findings at the end of 2010 and in 2011, the Government announced that it would work collaboratively with industry through a new Green Construction Board (GCB) to drive forward the 65 recommendations set out by the IGT, as well as wider construction industry sustainability issues. Tarmac will be supporting this work programme.

Sustainability codes

The initiatives outlined above, as well as companies’ own sustainability commitments, have increased the demand from our customers and their clients for detailed information on the sustainability performance of our products. This demand is further driven by changes to building regulations and the increasing application of sustainability codes like Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) for buildings, the Code for Sustainable Homes and Civil Engineering Environmental Quality Assessment Scheme (CEEQUAL) for civil engineering projects.