Archive for category: General News

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The report by the Supply Chain Sustainability School offers innovative strategies for optimising packaging practices in the housebuilding sector, highlighting real-world examples, barriers to change, and policy challenges, with implications reaching across the entire built environment industry.

18 September 2023, London, UK — The Supply Chain Sustainability School (the “School”) has today released its groundbreaking industry report focused on “Packaging Optimisation in the Housebuilding Sector.” This comprehensive report addresses a critical issue in the built environment – packaging waste – and provides practical solutions for reducing its impact on both cost and carbon.

Packaging waste has emerged as a significant challenge within the built environment industry, contributing to economic and environmental concerns. This report addresses these critical challenges and whilst focusing on the housebuilding sector, known for its substantial packaging demands, its insights extend beyond and are relevant for wider construction, facilities management, infrastructure, and more.

Ten School Partners have collaborated to co-fund this project, with a total of over 30 organisations joining forces to make this report possible. It encompasses real-world, actionable examples of packaging optimisation, including source elimination, reuse strategies, and optimal recycling conditions. It covers various packaging types, offering a comprehensive guide to implementing effective change.

Importantly, the report sheds light on the policy challenges that organisations dealing with significant packaging volumes are likely to encounter. It addresses key concerns such as the Plastic Packaging Tax and Extended Producer Responsibility, providing essential insights for navigating regulatory landscapes.

Key highlights of the report:

• Real-world examples of successful packaging optimisation strategies
• Insights into source elimination, reuse, and recycling optimisation
• Coverage of major packaging types and their optimisation potential
• Examination of common barriers to change and ongoing trials to overcome them
• Analysis of policy challenges faced by organisations dealing with substantial packaging volumes

Packaging remains a substantial cost and environmental burden for businesses. The UK construction industry alone generates around 55,000 tonnes of plastic waste annually, with an estimated 35,000 tonnes originating from packaging. Less than half of this plastic packaging is recycled, reinforcing the urgency of effective solutions.

Matt Nichols, Regional Director at Reconomy and Chair of the School’s Waste and Resource Use Leadership Group, said:

“Packaging and the waste created by its treatment remains a major contributor to cost and carbon across the entire built environment. Our Housebuilding sector is not alone in experiencing major challenges to address this problem, so this opportunity to work with some of the biggest names in the industry whilst drawing upon insights from so many expert stakeholders within the School partnership could not be missed. This project report contains content applicable not just for Housebuilding, but for anyone interested in optimising and reducing the endless flow of packaging arriving at project sites every day. I cannot recommend it enough”.

Mark Turner, Waste and Resource Management lead for the Supply Chain Sustainability School, highlighted the collaborative effort behind the report:

“This has been a brilliant opportunity to help deliver our School mission to enable a sustainable built environment through knowledge and collaboration. We have worked closely alongside four of the UK’s largest Housebuilders and in total over 30 leading organisations within the built environment to produce this report. Insights from the Housebuilders, their suppliers, product manufacturers, along with waste management and policy experts have provided a window into the opportunities for packaging optimisation. Most crucially, all of these organisations have entered into the spirit of open collaboration, providing solutions and practical examples for others to follow. We can only thank them.”

To access the full report and contribute to sustainable packaging practices in the housebuilding sector and the broader built environment, read the full report here.

Council investigates Spar collapse in Wales

Gwynedd Council stressed ‘the responsibility for ensuring that a building is safe rests with the owners of the property’

Two shop workers and a member of the public were dragged from the rubble of a collapsed company-owned Spar store earlier this month.

Emergency services were called to the store, previously a converted chapel on Plas yn Dref Street in Dolgellau town centre, following reports of a collapsed roof. Better Retailing understands the road near to the site will remain closed while an investigation is underway as to what caused the accident.

A spokesperson for the wholesaler and supplier of the store, AF Blakemore, said:

“Our customers’ and colleagues’ health and safety is paramount in all that we do.

“We are working with Gwynedd Council to establish the cause of the internal structure collapse. Structural engineers have been on site alongside council building control as we continue to investigate further. We are providing ongoing support to those who have been affected.”

Gwynedd Council stressed “the responsibility for ensuring that a building is safe and does not pose a risk to the public rests with the owners of the property”.

They told Better Retailing:

“Cyngor Gwynedd Building Control Service – like any other local authority – has statutory enforcement powers to take action against the owner of a dangerous structure under Section 78 of the Building Act 1984.

“In addition, the cost of any emergency remedial works carried out by the Council to ensure public safety will also be recovered from the owner of the property.”

Source: Better Retailing

Heat storage specialist Caldera has engaged the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) to design a heat cell gigafactory to mass manufacture its unique low carbon heat storage system at scale. The company plans to commence commercial production in 2025 and scale up rapidly thereafter, with thousands of heat cells being rolled out UK-wide.

In June, Caldera was awarded £4.3 million from the UK Government to develop its groundbreaking industrial heat storage technology – which takes cheap, green off-peak electricity and onsite solar and stores it in heat cells made of scrap aluminium and volcanic rock, ready to be released as hot water or steam when required.

The heat pioneers have already piloted the technology in homes across the south of England, where small-scale boilers delivered low carbon hot water and heating to a number of domestic customers.

Caldera is using the £4.3 million fund to build a full-scale industrial electric storage demonstrator – comprising up to 20 heat cells – at its base in Hampshire. The demonstrator will deliver process steam between 80 and 200℃, the ideal temperature for around 31 percent of the UK’s total industrial heat demand, in sectors including pharmaceuticals, food manufacturing and brewing.

The Manufacturing Technology Centre specialises in advising business on the latest manufacturing techniques and Caldera has now brought the MTC on board to design a new gigafactory to mass produce its electric boiler for a UK and global market.

“To date, all of our manufacturing has been on a near-bespoke unit-by-unit basis which is labour intensive with a high unit cost,” states Caldera CEO James Macnaghten.

“In order to drive down costs and meet growing future demand we need to explore how we can scale rapidly and automate as many processes as possible. A great benefit of our system is it is modular – our electric boiler is made up of multiple highly insulated cells, each of which is relatively small at around two metres high – and this really lends itself to manufacturing at scale,” James says.

Caldera has engaged the Manufacturing Technology Centre to define an efficient and lean method of manufacturing (MoM) and assembly for high volume production, to design a suitable factory layout and simulate in 3D the manufacture and assembly sequence of the product as a ‘virtual build’.

It is anticipated this will include automated production with robotics and state-of-the-art-processing. Work on the project has commenced already and will complete in late 2024 – giving Caldera a greenprint for production facilities which can be built in the years ahead.

“Industry is a major user of heat, and typically this is provided by steam boilers that burn gas or oil,” James continues.

“Our product delivers process heat at the sweet spot which many industries need. With continuing pressure to decarbonise we believe there will be strong global demand for Caldera’s electric storage boiler which offers a low cost, low carbon alternative to fossil fuel.

“Our partnership with the MTC will enable us to design a gigafactory with the very best technologies and processes baked in. Once demand for our product has risen sufficiently, we will then be able to build the facilities we need to scale up rapidly and roll out a commercial product with a vast potential market worldwide,” James concludes.

MTC’s Director of Power and Energy Matthew Kite said:

“We are delighted to be supporting Caldera in such a high-profile project, to rapidly automate and upscale their processes, ultimately in support of decarbonisation.

“We have a proven record across many different industrial sectors in defining efficient manufacturing operations and management (MOM) and assembly for volume production and this project aligns perfectly with the MTC’s support of the UK’s drive to ‘net zero’, where we are also working in many sectors such as hydrogen, nuclear power, offshore and onshore wind and in clean maritime.”

www.caldera.co.uk

Industry warns urgent action needed to restore investor confidence following renewables auction

Industry body RenewableUK is calling on the Government to take urgent action to rebuild investor confidence in the UK offshore wind market following a clean power auction that risks undermining targets to boost energy security and jeopardising the industrial opportunities of offshore wind – one of the UK’s most important growth sectors.

The latest auction of clean power contracts has failed to secure any new offshore wind, a technology crucial to meeting the Government’s energy security targets.

In response, RenewableUK is calling for urgent action from Government to fix the investment framework through a package of reforms to the CfD, support for supply chains and fiscal measures to attract clean energy investment into the UK in the face of global competition.

The results of the 5th round of Contracts for Difference (CfD), show that 3.7 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable capacity was successful overall. This is the lowest level since 2017 and just over a third of the 10.8GW in last year’s auction.

In this auction round for clean power contracts, up to 5GW of offshore wind was eligible to compete which could have powered nearly 8m homes a year and saved consumers £2bn a year compared to the cost of electricity from gas – a £24 annual saving on an average household bill. However, offshore wind projects did not bid into the auction as a result of the maximum price being set too low.

Industry has previously warned that prices needed to rise to reflect the impacts of the invasion of Ukraine, inflation in key commodities like steel, and increased financing costs from spiralling interest rates. However, offshore wind developers saw the maximum price they could bid in this year’s auction cut by £2 to £44 per megawatt hour (MWh).

The auction secured 1.9GW of solar at £47.00 per megawatt hour and 1.5GW of onshore wind capacity at £52.29/MWh, as well as 53 megawatts (MW) of tidal power at £198.00/MWh. The new projects will come online from 2025 onwards. Industry is warning that the failure to secure any new offshore wind capacity risks putting our energy security and net zero targets at risk, keeping the UK dependent on fossil fuels for longer. The auction also failed to secure any innovative floating offshore wind farms, a sector in which the UK aims to be a world leader.

So far, only 27GW has been secured of the Government’s 50GW offshore wind target for 2030 and future auctions will now have to support 4.5-5.8GW a year to get back on target. National Grid forecasts that – regardless of progress on other renewables and nuclear – we will need at least 73GW of offshore wind by 2035 to decarbonise the grid. Offshore wind generates more power per megawatt of capacity than any other renewable source, and the UK’s unique wind resource and shallow seas mean it has been the central technology in plans to end the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels for electricity.

Commenting on the results, RenewableUK CEO Dan McGrail said:

“Industry has warned that rising costs should have been properly priced into this auction. If the UK isn’t offering prices that allow investors to make a return, they will simply invest elsewhere. These results should set alarm bells ringing in Government, as the UK’s energy security and net zero goals can only be met if we have offshore wind as the backbone of our future energy system. We need the Government to show that the UK is open for business.

The failure to secure any new offshore wind is a major blow for consumers that could, and should, have been averted. Building wind farms means we stabilise the cost of energy for the long-term and reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, prices of which can be manipulated by dictators and despots. It’s not too late to get back on track, but without urgent changes, we risk pricing ourselves out of the global race for clean energy investment.

Renewables don’t only enable us to fight climate change, they also help to drive economic growth, creating jobs and supporting supply chains across the UK. This result for offshore wind means putting economic growth on hold, with over £10bn in investment and thousands of jobs delayed.

RenewableUK’s Executive Director for Policy and Engagement, Ana Musat, said:

“There has been a perfect storm of inflation, supply chain disruption and spiralling interest rates that mean the cost of financing and building offshore wind have risen sharply. Offshore wind remains the UK’s cheapest option for large-scale power, so slowing deployment will cost more and leave consumers exposed to volatile global gas markets for longer.

“We urgently need Government to provide reassurance that next year’s auction round will offer investable parameters, and that in the longer term a joined-up strategy for maximising the potential of the offshore wind sector is developed. As part of that, the industry needs to see credible plans to evolve the CfD to maximise deployment of our cheapest forms of electricity generation, a commitment to develop and fund supply chain growth and an internationally competitive fiscal regime which attracts capital into the UK”.

Source Renewables UK