The trade association Interpave’s stand at Ecobuild focuses on the wide ranging sustainability credentials of precast concrete paving products – particularly permeable paving for SuDS and the extensive information resource www.paving.org.uk.
Visit Interpave at Stand N1557 (on the British Precast Pavilion opposite entrances N4 and N5) to find out more and pick up the latest ‘Paving for Sustainability’ guide.
Paving for Sustainability considers a wide range of issues including precast concrete as a locally based, British industry, providing national coverage while minimising transportation and supporting local economies and communities. It also illustrates the commitments for on-going environmental investments and improvements being made by Interpave manufacturer members.
The BRE Green Guide to Specification also provides independent endorsement of the low environmental impact of precast concrete paving, particularly in comparison with imported materials. The summary environmental ratings for a range of precast concrete paving specifications – covering blocks, flags and ‘grass concrete’ units - are generally ‘A+’ or ‘A’ across the applications considered. The Green Guide also confirms that ratings for “permeable precast concrete block paving…systems can be considered to have the same ratings as their conventional equivalents”, recognising the importance of this SuDS technique.
These impressive ratings are also recognised in the Materials section of BREEAM 2011. But precast concrete permeable paving can also play a significant role in gaining credits and meeting other criteria to improve BREEAM scores in other sections, as the Paving for Sustainability guide demonstrates. These areas include protecting and enhancing ecological value (by providing a controlled source of clean water), surface water run-off (by reducing flooding and removing pollutants) and water consumption (by providing water harvesting).
The 2010 Code for Sustainable Homes also recognises these benefits in gaining credits and meeting other criteria to achieve higher Code levels.
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