Carbon-saving Concretene locks in £3m investment
A Molten Ventures and LocalGlobe joint venture has financially committed to the firm’s ambitions to develop sustainable building technology.
Concretene, a concrete-based building material reinforced with graphene, has the potential to reduce the construction industry’s reliance on carbon-intensive materials.
Mike Harrison, chief operating officer at Concretene, said of the £3m investment: “We’re delighted to welcome Molten Ventures to join with us and LocalGlobe on our mission to decarbonise concrete.
The JV announced the investment will reach £3m.
The researchers have indicated that funding will be spent on pushing towards revenue generation and continued commercial development.
“We also want to thank LocalGlobe for their enthusiasm and support in getting Concretene off the ground.
“Our team in Manchester has a unique combination of expertise and experience across construction and nanomaterial science, which will enable us to deliver our next stage of development and earn industry confidence and certification.”
He continued: “With the support of our funders and strategic partners Arup and Black Swan Graphene, we’re now well placed to move forward rapidly to commercialisation.”
Work from the Concretene Formations Lab in Manchester, part of the university cluster off Manchester’s Oxford Street, has demonstrated enough potential to woo investors.
Concretene states that concrete alone accounts for more than 7% of global CO2 emissions, mostly from cement manufacturing.
Researchers at Nationwide Engineering Research and Development, and the University of Manchester’s Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre, are credited with the development
The Concretene Formulations Lab was the first tenant at Bruntwood SciTech’s innovation district, which has recently been renamed Sister.
Arup has concrete specialists working alongside Concretene’s scientists.
Arup’s concrete materials lead Dr Fragkoulis Kanavaris, said: “We’ve seen the strengthening of Concretene’s technical team on data analysis, nanomaterials in concrete and graphene formulations.
“As a result, we’re increasingly confident in Concretene’s ability to expedite the technology and we’re now working in close collaboration on consistency of mixes and formulations towards standardisation.”
Concretene was conceived and founded by civil engineers Rob Hibberd and Alex McDermott.
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