Joseph Aspdin, an English bricklayer, businessman, inventor, and stonemason was granted the patent for Portland cement on 21 October 1824, setting the UK and the world on a new construction journey.
Over the past two centuries, cement's ability to bind together concrete ingredients has quite literally shaped our world. The material remains essential to delivering new homes, schools, hospitals, workplaces, roads, and railways, as well as the infrastructure that provides us with clean water, sanitation, and low-carbon energy.
However, the significant industrial milestone comes at a time when, according to the Mineral Products Association, the UK Government’s recent draft Industrial Strategy Green Paper risks missing an opportunity to deliver support for industries such as cement, which are vital to the UK’s infrastructure and development pipeline.
Net zero is a major opportunity for growth in the cement industry, and the UK's capacity for carbon capture and storage would have a clear natural advantage if the opportunity were fully supported.
The Mineral Products Association (MPA) is also calling for the introduction of a watertight UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism to level the carbon and energy policy costs between importers and domestic producers.
Dr Diana Casey, Executive Director of Energy and Climate Change, Cement and Lime at the MPA, said: “As we celebrate the bicentenary of UK cement production, our industry has a clear commitment to net zero, and UK manufactured cement remains essential to delivering the UK’s energy transition and development pipeline.
“It’s therefore important that the government continues to back the sector’s decarbonisation and that UK construction buys cement that is responsibly sourced and made in cement kilns that are decarbonising.”
