{"id":90383,"date":"2021-03-15T14:40:06","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T14:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=90383"},"modified":"2021-03-15T14:40:06","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T14:40:06","slug":"hs2-reinforce-concrete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/","title":{"rendered":"HS2 swaps steel for wind turbine blades to reinforce concrete"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retired wind turbine blades destined for the incinerator will instead be used to create carbon-friendly reinforced concrete on Britain\u2019s new high speed rail network, HS2 Ltd<\/h2>\n

The innovative project<\/a> will swap steel rebar, traditionally used to reinforce concrete, with sections of glass fibre reinforced polymer turbine blades that have reached the end of their operational lives generating low carbon electricity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By 2023, around 15,000 turbine blades will have been decommissioned across the UK and EU. Until now, expired blades have either been ground down to be used as building materials or sent to energy-from-waste incinerators.<\/p>\n

The innovation will use suitable sections cut from decommissioned wind turbine<\/a> blades in reinforced concrete instead of steel rebar.<\/p>\n

Substituting steel for sections of retired wind turbine blades cuts by up to 90% the carbon generated by concrete reinforcement.<\/p>\n

With the innovation at an early stage, reuse will focus on swapping steel for turbine blades in low stress structures such as temporary access roads, top sections of concrete walls and ground bearing plinths \u2013 like those on which a portacabin might sit.<\/p>\n

Work on the proof-of-concept pilot is due to start in Spring 2021 and, if successful, could be followed by a full roll out across Skanska<\/a> Costain<\/a> STRABAG joint venture\u2019s route, consisting of HS2\u2019s London tunnels<\/a> between the M25 motorway and Euston station.<\/p>\n

Innovation is that unlike other blade recycling initiatives<\/h3>\n

HS2 Ltd innovation manager Rob Cairns, said: \u201cReusing old turbine blades reduces waste, cuts demand for new steel and reduces the carbon generated during the production of concrete.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis scheme is a brilliant example of the innovation happening on the whole HS2 project. If our world-first pilot project goes well, we could see a waste product from the energy industry becoming an essential material for the construction sector in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skanska Costain STRABAG Joint Venture\u2019s innovation manager, Harrison O\u2019Hara, commented: \u201cWind turbine blades are extremely difficult to recycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdeas of what to do with them after they\u2019re taken down range from turning them into playground slides to processing them into pellets for glues and paints.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s potentially so significant about this innovation is that unlike some other turbine blade recycling initiatives, which involve reprocessing, our innovation reinforces concrete<\/a> with sections simply cut from the turbines \u2013 massively reducing the carbon produced in repurposing the blades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graeme Jeremy, head of construction and infrastructure at the NCC, added: \u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to supporting this project.<\/p>\n

\u201cComposite materials offer huge benefits to a number of different industries, and finding new, sustainable uses for them as they are decommissioned from their first life is a challenge we\u2019re finding solutions for all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retired wind turbine blades destined for the incinerator will instead be used to create carbon-friendly reinforced concrete on Britain\u2019s new high speed rail network, HS2 Ltd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[811,664,430,673,473,579,947,928,935,273,468,32292,280],"stakeholder_rel_tag":[],"contributor_rel_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-90383","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-energy-news","7":"tag-concrete","8":"tag-construction-services","9":"tag-energy-efficiency","10":"tag-energy","11":"tag-hs2","12":"tag-infrastructure","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-rail-network","15":"tag-recycle","16":"tag-research-innovation","17":"tag-solar-energy","18":"tag-steel","19":"tag-transport"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHS2 swaps steel for wind turbine blades to reinforce concrete<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Retired wind turbine blades destined for the incinerator will instead be used to create carbon-friendly reinforced concrete on Britain\u2019s HS2\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HS2 swaps steel for wind turbine blades to reinforce concrete\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Retired wind turbine blades destined for the incinerator will instead be used to create carbon-friendly reinforced concrete on Britain\u2019s HS2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-15T14:40:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/HS2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1170\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elisha Sketchley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PBC_Today\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@PBC_Today\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elisha Sketchley\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4ae66827b33682426f672d214cdd7580\"},\"headline\":\"HS2 swaps steel for wind turbine blades to reinforce concrete\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-15T14:40:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/\"},\"wordCount\":450,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Concrete and Cement\",\"Construction services\",\"Energy Efficiency\",\"Energy Sector\",\"HS2\",\"Infrastructure\",\"London\",\"Rail Network\",\"Recycling system\",\"Research & Innovation\",\"Solar Energy\",\"Steel\",\"Transport\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Energy News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/\",\"name\":\"HS2 swaps steel for wind turbine blades to reinforce concrete\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-15T14:40:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"Retired wind turbine blades destined for the incinerator will instead be used to create carbon-friendly reinforced concrete on Britain\u2019s HS2\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"HS2 swaps steel for wind turbine blades to reinforce concrete\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\",\"description\":\"The Latest Planning, Building & Construction News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\",\"alternateName\":\"PBC Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/PBC_Today\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4ae66827b33682426f672d214cdd7580\",\"name\":\"Elisha Sketchley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/30054ee50e4135840aa91decc99b14268d346fcf23e3f41d0ecfe6c19255e936?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/30054ee50e4135840aa91decc99b14268d346fcf23e3f41d0ecfe6c19255e936?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elisha Sketchley\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/author\/elishasketchley\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"HS2 swaps steel for wind turbine blades to reinforce concrete","description":"Retired wind turbine blades destined for the incinerator will instead be used to create carbon-friendly reinforced concrete on Britain\u2019s HS2","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"HS2 swaps steel for wind turbine blades to reinforce concrete","og_description":"Retired wind turbine blades destined for the incinerator will instead be used to create carbon-friendly reinforced concrete on Britain\u2019s HS2","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/","og_site_name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/","article_published_time":"2021-03-15T14:40:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1170,"height":780,"url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/HS2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elisha Sketchley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PBC_Today","twitter_site":"@PBC_Today","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/"},"author":{"name":"Elisha Sketchley","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4ae66827b33682426f672d214cdd7580"},"headline":"HS2 swaps steel for wind turbine blades to reinforce concrete","datePublished":"2021-03-15T14:40:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/"},"wordCount":450,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["Concrete and Cement","Construction services","Energy Efficiency","Energy Sector","HS2","Infrastructure","London","Rail Network","Recycling system","Research & Innovation","Solar Energy","Steel","Transport"],"articleSection":["Energy News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2021","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/","name":"HS2 swaps steel for wind turbine blades to reinforce concrete","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-03-15T14:40:06+00:00","description":"Retired wind turbine blades destined for the incinerator will instead be used to create carbon-friendly reinforced concrete on Britain\u2019s HS2","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/hs2-reinforce-concrete\/90383\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"HS2 swaps steel for wind turbine blades to reinforce concrete"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/","name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","description":"The Latest Planning, Building & Construction News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization","name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","alternateName":"PBC Today","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Planning, Building & Construction Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/","https:\/\/x.com\/PBC_Today"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4ae66827b33682426f672d214cdd7580","name":"Elisha Sketchley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/30054ee50e4135840aa91decc99b14268d346fcf23e3f41d0ecfe6c19255e936?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/30054ee50e4135840aa91decc99b14268d346fcf23e3f41d0ecfe6c19255e936?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elisha Sketchley"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk"],"url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/author\/elishasketchley\/"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-10 07:14:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90383"},{"taxonomy":"stakeholder_rel_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stakeholder_rel_tag?post=90383"},{"taxonomy":"contributor_rel_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor_rel_tag?post=90383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}