The EPD covers a generic 1m² of 150mm deep precast hollowcore flooring and incorporates data from members of the PFF. The EPD was verified and published on the 8 March, 2017 and is valid for 5 years. The publication of the EPD also signifies an important milestone in the wider British Precast EPD project.
The EPD is now available for download on the IBU [Institut Bauen und Umwelt] and British Precast websites.
British Precast’s EPD project, commissioned the sustainability consultancy thinkstep to deliver a bespoke EPD calculator tool.
This tool has been used to deliver the hollowcore EPD, the first of many generic and company specific EPDs for the concrete sector.
The publication of this EPD signifies an important milestone in the project because the calculator tool is now verified by IBU to produce EPDs for the concrete sector.
Andrew Minson, executive director MPA-British Precast said: “We are delighted with the recent publication of the hollowcore flooring EPD as it not only gives members of the PFF a verified EN15804 EPD to use in BREEAM/CEEQUAL and BIM enabled projects but it also gives us proof of the EPD calculator tools compliance and capabilities.
“We will now deliver generic EPDs for all our product groups, and other cement based products in the MPA family, and can deliver proprietary EPDs for British Precast and MPA members.”
The generic EPDs fulfill a number of purposes as part of the sectors strategic work on sustainability.
Firstly, at the earliest design stages for a built asset the supplier is unknown, so an industry-wide EPD will be helpful to designers. Secondly, it is anticipated that the generic EPDs published will act as a bridge for producer members enabling them to represent the environmental credentials of their products to customers before companies move to publish their own EPDs.
The hollowcore flooring EPD is the first produced by the project. Forthcoming EPDs to be published are1m² of Concrete Blocks (Aggregate Blocks); 1m³ of Aircrete Blocks; 1 Tonne of Concrete Paving Products; 1m³ of Precast Concrete Ground Beam; 1m² of Single Leaf Architectural Cladding; 1m length of DN600 Concrete Pipe with Class B Bedding; 1 Tonne of average Box Culvert; 1 Tonne of Ready-mix concrete in collaboration with BRMCA, and 1 Tonne of Mortar in collaboration with MIA
The British Precast EPD project is part of the MPA’s wider commitment to provide strong leadership on sustainability within the mineral products sector. MPA Cement published a cradle-to-gate EPD for a UK average Portland cement in spring 2014.
This EPD, also developed in collaboration with thinkstep, was published through the same third party verification scheme. Both EPDs can be found by searching the database on the IBU website.
