Delivering lower carbon roads in Cumbria

We have worked collaboratively with Westmorland and Furness Council to improve a 1.5-mile stretch of the A689 in Cumbria.

We resurfaced the road between Harbut Lodge and the Alston War Memorial as part of our highway framework agreement with the council, which we won in 2024 following a competitive tender process.

The scheme used our CarbonLock biogenic asphalt to reduce the carbon footprint of the project, as well as trialling electric paving equipment.

CarbonLock contains biogenic material within the binder that absorbs and stores CO₂ from the atmosphere during its life. This CO₂ is permanently ‘locked’ into the asphalt, even when it is recycled.

“This was the first time we have used CarbonLock biogenic asphalt as part of framework agreement and it was an excellent example of how we can help our clients meet their carbon reduction goals,” said Adrian Stubbs, Regional General Manager at Heidelberg Materials Contracting.

“We worked to a tight schedule and delivered the improvement works on time, ensuring further planned work was not impacted, and provided a 21 per cent carbon reduction compared with laying standard hot-mix asphalt.”

The 1,150 tonnes of asphalt for the scheme was produced at our Keepershield plant, near Hexham, and laid using an electric paver supplied by Ammann to further reduce the carbon impact of the project. The Ammann eABG 4820 is the largest electric-driver paver in the market and is capable of laying up to 1,200 tonnes of asphalt in a single charge and reduces the carbon emissions associated with road laying.

Kieron Tetchner, Lead Network Manager at Westmorland and Furness Council, added: “Westmorland and Furness Council Highways has collaborated closely with Heidelberg Materials to design this carbon exemplar scheme in Alston as part of our highway framework agreement, which was established in 2024.

“To meet council priorities, and as part of our drive for service innovation, we jointly challenged the highways team and Heidelberg Materials’ engineers to design a scheme using CarbonLock biogenic asphalt and electric vehicles wherever possible to reduce the overall carbon and environmental footprint of the project.

“We are proud to be leading in this area alongside Heidelberg Materials and will be monitoring the scheme, evaluating performance and looking for further joint opportunities.”