With the
industry under increasing pressure to use sustainable materials in road
construction, Aggregate Industries has launched Superlow, a low temperature
asphalt enabling quicker, more environmentally-friendly project completion.
Specially
formulated for use on highways and road infrastructure schemes, this range of
asphalt is mixed at 20°C-40°C lower than hot mix asphalt. As it requires less
energy to manufacture than conventional asphalt, Superlow ensures a lower
carbon footprint.
The
launch of this innovative solution comes just a month after the UK became the
first ever country to legally commit to cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
to ‘net zero’ by 2050.
Under the Construction
Sector Deal set out last year, the UK has ambitious targets to halve
emissions in the built environment by 2025, reduce the initial and whole life
cost of a project by a third, and speed up the delivery of vital new build and
refurbishment projects.
To help
contractors meet these objectives, Superlow offers a whole host of real time
and cost benefits. For instance, it reaches trafficking temperatures quicker
than conventional hot asphalt enabling earlier reopening of carriageways to the
travelling public, resulting in less road occupation, less traffic disruption
and reduced build cost.
With
the equivalent performance characteristics of hot mix asphalt, when it comes to
workability, however, Superlow remains compactable for longer at lower
temperatures. This allows more time for full compaction and, as a result,
enhanced durability. It’s also longer lasting, as lower asphalt temperatures
during production reduces binder ageing and enhances in service life
expectancy.
Reflecting
Aggregate Industries’ commitment to safety, low temperature asphalt is much
safer than conventional solutions as it reduces nuisance fuming and lowers the
risk of burns from material handling.
Jo Wilkins, Head of
Business Development for Asphalt and Ready Mix Concrete at Aggregate
Industries, said: “With contractors and clients under increasing pressure to
meet the Government’s ambitious sustainability targets, often the first step
will be specifying more environmentally-friendly construction materials.
“That’s why we've
developed Superlow, a new range of low temperature asphalts which have a lower
carbon footprint than traditional asphalt. As with all our products, our
in-house team of technical experts will work with customers to enable quicker
and more cost-effective project completion.”
