Business and product innovation

Our policy: We will ensure continuous business and product innovation

Our 2030 commitments

 Our progress
We will reduce the carbon impact of our products, with a science-based target of 15% reduction from a 2016 baseline

Development of our range of low carbon concretes e.g. EcoPlus, which can result in CO2 savings of up to 54%

Internally verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) offered to customers, to allow them to choose the lowest carbon products for their projects
100% of our operational sites will have full IMS certification to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 50001, ISO 45001 and BES 6001  100% of our sites fully comply with IMS certification
A new commitment for the average CO2 emissions associated with our cementitious products to be reduced to 525 kg/tonne by 2025 and less than 500 kg/tonne by 2030 Average CO2 emissions associated with our cementitious products was 418 kg/tonne, down 1.4% from 424 kg/tonne in 2019 

Business innovation

Over £40 million was invested in capital expenditure projects to improve efficiency and reduce carbon emissions in 2020. These include:

  • Upgrading our Greenwich concrete plant at Victoria Deep Water Terminal on the Thames. Storage capacity has been significantly increased, greatly reducing the frequency with which raw materials need to be brought onto the site. Proximity to the Thames allows these materials – and finished products – to be transported by river, keeping over 16,000 vehicle movements off the roads each year, and significantly cutting CO2 and other associated emissions. The new equipment also improves efficiency and brings a range of sustainability enhancements including reduced energy usage; a water harvesting system; a recycling centre for returned concrete; and the capability to store and incorporate reclaimed and low carbon materials into the concrete mix. 
  • Launch of our new marine aggregate dredger, Hanson Thames, which forms part of our strategy to replace our existing ageing dredgers. The vessel, which will operate in the North Sea and English Channel, provides increased payload and efficiency and is equipped with enhanced safety features including an enclosed bow to protect equipment and dredge pipes positioned above the main deck. 
  • A new ship to shore conveyor at our Dagenham aggregates depot and wharf in East London has increased the speed with which sand and gravel from the marine aggregate dredgers is transferred, cutting waiting time and reducing fuel use. 
  • £1 million investment in our ready-mixed concrete plant in West Byfleet, Surrey, to meet the latest energy efficiency standards and demonstrate our commitment to being a good neighbour by reducing dust and noise.

Business and product innovation in action

    Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)

    We have used the BRE LINA online tool to access life cycle assessment data and verify Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for eight of our most popular concrete mixes and for the UK average concrete. There are also verified EPDs for cement and Regen. All aggregate, cement and Regen sources are available as materials within LINA to allow the generation of internally verified EPDs for specific products on request, including the calculation of cradle to gate carbon that can be calculated for all products. These are publicly available on the Hanson website.

    We have already exceeded the new global HeidelbergCement commitment to reduce the average CO2 within cementitious products to 525 kg/tonne by 2025 and to less than 500 kg/tonne of by 2030. By using our lower carbon cements in combination with Regen we are already achieving an average CO2 within our cementitious products at 418 kg/tonne as a national average. EPD's can be provided if our customers require a tailored low carbon solution for their project and are based on the best mix design that balances their performance and environmental impact needs. 

    Low carbon concrete 

    We supplied specialist low carbon concrete to support BAM Nuttall and Network Rail deliver coastal protection works in Dawlish, Devon. The bespoke mix contains our Regen GGBS to create a low carbon concrete that is strong enough to withstand storm force winds and seas while reducing the amount of carbon generated by two-thirds. 

    Concrete containing 70% Regen GGBS was also supplied to Renaker for its Deansgate Square development in Manchester saving more than 500 tonnes of CO2.

    Multicem Tough Bag

    In 2020 we focussed on increasing sales of our new tough paper bag for Multicem, a premium cement suitable for use in mortar, render, screed and concrete, to replace the previous plastic packaging. It has a laminated plastic outer, which means it contains only 4g of plastic per bag compared to 90g for a conventional plastic bag. This gives a reduction of 95%, saving almost 5kg of plastic per pallet and one tonne for every 10 full loads.