Concrete is the second most consumed material on the planet after water. It is used to build homes, schools and hospitals, as well as in crucial infrastructure such as wind farms, tunnels and roads.
Cement is the key component of concrete, an essential construction material with no viable alternative. But cement production is currently carbon intensive. A large proportion of the carbon emissions come from the chemical processes involved in making cement, which cannot be reduced by using low carbon or renewable energy sources. The only way to produce the cement that the UK needs, without emitting large amounts of carbon, is to capture and store these emissions.
Heidelberg Materials UK is progressing with plans to invest around £400 million to construct an industry leading carbon capture facility at our Padeswood cement works in north Wales. This would be the first carbon capture enabled cement works in the UK, representing a ground-breaking project for the global cement industry.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) does exactly what it says – capturing carbon dioxide produced during cement manufacture before it enters the atmosphere, transporting it by pipeline, and storing it safely under the seabed. It is a safe and proven technology that has been around for many years.
Over the last decade, we have been investing in our site to make it more sustainable. However, without carbon capture and storage we will not be able to reach net zero.
Heidelberg Materials is committed to achieving net zero by 2050 and this project gives us the opportunity to place Padeswood at the forefront of the worldwide movement toward carbon-neutral building materials.
To find out more about Heidelberg Materials UK click here.
Benefits
Our plans at Padeswood are a stepping stone to decarbonising the construction process. The UK simply cannot achieve its net zero goals without the building materials we use being carbon neutral.
We intend to capture 800,000 tonnes of CO2 a year, the equivalent of taking 320,000 cars off the road. The scheme will be an integral part of the HyNet industrial cluster, which could save up to 10 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
Along with its environmental benefits, the project will:
bring £400m of investment to Padeswood cement works and the region’s economy;
help to secure a sustainable future for 2,500 people employed in the UK cement industry, 15,000 indirect jobs, and 2.5 million jobs in the construction industry;
create 54 new full-time jobs at Padeswood, and up to 350 additional jobs during construction of the capture plant.
This is a project of great significance as it is a step-change to support the transition of the wider construction industry to a net zero future – ultimately helping the UK meet its net zero targets.
Next steps
We are excited to begin work on this project and aim to have it operational in 2027. We require planning consent and environmental permits to bring this project to fruition, and as part of this will be engaging with local people to understand their views and allow them to have their say. As this project develops, we will be sure to keep you informed on our progress. We will also be updating this page on a regular basis.
Earlier this year we held our non-statutory consultation, where we presented our plans at public events and online, and invited feedback on them. This has now closed, but there will be further opportunities to feedback on our proposed development later in the year.
For further information about the project and next steps, please take a look at our FAQ section below and our non-statutory consultation brochure
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) does exactly what it says – capturing carbon dioxide produced during cement manufacture before it enters the atmosphere, transporting it by pipeline, and storing it safely under the seabed. This will enable us to produce net zero cement, which can be used in construction projects across the UK.
As everything from new offshore wind farms, to nuclear power stations, to clean transport infrastructure uses cement, it is crucial that we make the entire process, from production to construction to maintenance, carbon neutral.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, which means it contributes to global warming and climate change. It is produced by many processes, including the burning of fossil fuels and the chemical processes by which cement is made. The UK and other governments around the world are trying to cut emissions of this gas to help limit climate change.
The UK produces greenhouse gases, but it can also remove them from the environment. Net zero is when the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions are equal to the amount removed from the environment.
The UK can reduce its emissions through CCS and other measures such as switching to renewable energy. We can also remove emissions from the atmosphere through actions such as tree planting.
At our Padeswood site, we will capture CO2 produced during the cement manufacturing process. The CO2 will then be safely transported via an underground pipeline and securely stored in depleted gas reservoirs under the seabed in Liverpool Bay.
The Liverpool Bay CO2 store will be up to 1km below the seabed and approximately 32km offshore. Once there, emissions will remain underground indefinitely, covered by a dense layer of shale.
Our plant will link into the HyNet pipeline network and the captured CO2 will be transported underground to its destination first at the Point of Ayr and then into Liverpool Bay.
The CO2 emitted from the cement plant will be captured and stored making the cement net zero which can then be used in construction projects.
Everything from new offshore wind farms, to nuclear power stations, to clean transport infrastructure uses cement, so it is crucial that we make the entire process, from production to construction to maintenance, carbon neutral.
The initial estimated cost to build the plant is around £400 million. We anticipate the running costs to be in line with similar large industrial sites.
The CCS project should have no effect on the levels of dust at the site.
Alongside the project, Heidelberg Materials UK has already invested, and is committed to providing further investment, in improving the site’s operations and addressing dust emissions.
A full environmental impact assessment (EIA) will be undertaken to support our planning application, which will be submitted to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW).
An EIA ensures that the Welsh Government and relevant consultees have a comprehensive understanding of the effects of a project, which are then taken into consideration in the decision-making process. We will assess any potential significant environmental effects of the proposals and identify appropriate measures to mitigate these.
We will present full details of our EIA during statutory consultation.
HyNet will reduce carbon emissions by 10 million tonnes each year when it is fully operational - the equivalent of taking 4 million cars off the road. Heidelberg Materials CCS will account for more than 800,000 tonnes of this substantial saving.
In October 2022 we held drop-in events in Buckley and Penyffordd where we introduced our plans and invited participants to feed back their comments.
In January and February 2023 we held our non-statutory consultation. As part of this, we held two public online events and four drop-in events in Buckley and Penyffordd. We shared our proposals in more detail and participants were able to ask our team questions. We also invited all participants to submit written feedback on our proposals, which could be done online or in the post.
In addition, we updated our website with our project brochure, sent letters to all local residents, placed adverts in local papers, issued a press release, shared information via Penyffordd Community Council and Buckley Town Council social media and placed posters and brochures in local venues.
The project has recently progressed to the due diligence and negotiation phase of the Government’s Phase-2 cluster sequencing programme, which is an important step forward and brings us closer to realising our ambition to deliver the first net zero cement works in the UK, placing Padeswood and Heidelberg Materials UK at the forefront of the industry’s transition to a low carbon future – helping decarbonise north Wales and beyond.
Later this year, we will be holding our statutory consultation, where we will present our updated Padeswood plans in detail and provide the community with a formal opportunity to comment. We will take account of this feedback when finalising our planning application, which we plan to submit to Planning and Environmental Decisions Wales (PEDW) later in the year, following statutory consultation.
