3. Project leadership

The business case for building the Lower Thames Crossing road tunnel connection between Kent and Essex under the River Thames is conventional. However, National Highways director of sustainability for Lower Thames Crossing Andrew Kidd said that this approach was problematic. “Road building in context of a climate emergency is not popular, so the answer for us was to take the challenge head on,” he explained.

“At the moment, Kent and Essex are two economies completely separated by the River Thames and the new crossing opens up opportunity right across the Thames Estuary region. It also takes pressure off the existing crossing at Dartford. Plus it will create a free flowing route for trade coming in through the Channel ports up to the Midlands and the rest of the country.

National Highways’ Andrew Kidd told the Carbon Crunch audience that clients have a role to play in cutting carbon alongside the supply chain

“But how do you deliver this infrastructure and the economic benefits, in terms of net zero, whilst also using the project to accelerate the progress of the construction sector towards net zero?”

Construction is critical

According to Andrew, the construction itself is key to the net zero status of the new link. He said that with the crossing not expected to open until the 2030s and the trajectory of decarbonisation of road travel through to 2050 already being mapped out, most of the carbon footprint will be in the construction and not in its operational lifetime.

“Essentially our footprint is the same as every other construction project – it’s about steel, concrete and diesel,” explained Andrew.

National Highways started by getting the project PAS 2080 accredited and building a detailed carbon model. “This gave us a clear understanding of our footprint,” said Andrew. “We then took 30% off that and set it as a limit with a legal commitment through our Development Consent Order.

“We then deliberately procured for low carbon.”

Engaging the supply chain

Evaluating the bids for low carbon was a significant part of the assessment of the tenders for the three big design and built contracts, valued at around £4bn, on Lower Thames Crossing. “The industry responded well and went much lower with tenders committing to 50% better than doing nothing and that’s basically for free,” said Andrew.

However, he underlines that it is not enough to leave it to the market to solve everything and it was essential as a client to also understand what its future supply chain might look like and what technologies were emerging. “We wanted to be a super well-informed client so we knew what to ask for, when to ask for it and how to ask for it,” he explains.

“We might have got the first 50% reduction in carbon for free but after that it gets increasingly difficult. You’re going to be bringing forward new technologies and new approaches and some of those are going to cost, at least in the short term, and some will also cost in the long term too if you factor in things like carbon capture and storage.

“That is really complicated, so we then took the approach of reviewing the carbon intensity we wanted and viewed the three big challenge areas of concrete, steel and diesel, as well as asphalt. Basically we are aiming to choice edit out the worst performing products.”

We deliberately procured for low carbon

This is where the client has a critical role, according to Andrew. “We are not putting all this on our delivery partners and their supply chain,” he said. “We recognise that we have a role to play and some places where we need to play more of a role than in others.”

Andrew’s key advice to other projects is to know your numbers (using PAS 2080), contract for low carbon, plan for a diesel free site, follow the concrete route map and opt for green steel.