A landmark bench that has been cast especially for the Corridor of Light event using world-beating graphene-enhanced concrete is set to go on public display.
The bench is made from Concretene, a revolutionary emissions-busting material that has been pioneered by The University of Manchester’s Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) working with commercial partner Nationwide Engineering, an innovative company co-founded by Manchester civil engineering graduate Alex McDermott.
As well as being functional, the bench will be a symbol of Manchester’s commitment to sustainability and delivering technology to achieve net-zero living.
Concretene has huge potential to address the construction industry’s need to lower emissions, by reducing the amount of concrete required in construction projects by as much as 30%. It also offers efficiency savings by slashing drying time from 28 days to just 12 hours.
“Our partnership with the University has fast-tracked the development of Concretene, going from lab to product in 18 months,” said Alex.
“We’re ahead of everyone else in the world with the scale-up of this technology, and we’ve had interest from right across the building industry, here and across the world, from people who understand that sustainability is no longer a ‘nice to have’ in construction – it’s fundamental to the future of the industry.”
