Sharing Best Practice – Tuesday 19th November 2024

Our latest Sharing Best Practice virtual conference was an innovation special, looking at materials and technologies that can ensure local roads are fit for a low carbon future.

AIA Chair David Giles opened the event and welcomed the record number of delegates, with attendees from 115 local authorities across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as industry representatives attending.

Delegates heard from industry experts and local authority representatives who shared their experiences and successes in bitumen innovation, sustainable asphalt, innovation in asphalt manufacturing and laying, and the regulations, legislation and standards that provide the backdrop to the low carbon landscape.

Speakers included representatives from Blackpool Council, Norfolk County Council, Lancashire County Council, and the European Asphalt Pavement Association, before a lively panel discussion about the barriers to adopting innovation and how the supply chain can work together to overcome them and build a resilient, low carbon network.   

We are grateful to all participants for their insight and thank them for allowing us to make their presentations, slides or discussions available to view:

You can watch a recording of the event in full here.

Addressing the net zero disconnect
Ian Large, Head of Highway and Traffic Management Services, Blackpool Council/Chair of the LCRIG Innovation Board

Evolution of bitumen innovation
Ian Lancaster, Technical Lead, Eurobitume
Simon Shearwood, Senior Engineer (Pavements & Structures), Norfolk County Council

Slides available here

Sustainable asphalt
Brian Kent, MPA Asphalt

Slides available here

Low carbon highways – moving from strategy to implementation
Paul Binks, Highways Asset Manager, Lancashire Country Council
Neil Leake, National Technical Manager, Aggregate Industries

Slides available here

Innovation in asphalt manufacturing and laying  
Paul Holmes, Managing Director, Wirtgen Limited

View the video here

Advancing lower carbon roads
Hartlepool Borough Council/Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council/ Tarmac example

View the video here

Fireside chat: Roadmap to decarbonisation
Dr Breixo Gómez Meijide, Technical Director, European Asphalt Pavement Association (EAPA)
Malcolm Simms, Director, MPA Asphalt

View the video here

Innovation head-to-head panel discussion
David Giles, Chair, Asphalt Industry Alliance (panel chair)
Paul Binks, Highways Asset Manager, Lancashire County Council
Brian Kent, Chair, MPA Asphalt Committee
Ian Lancaster, Technical Lead, Eurobitume
Ian Large, Head of Highway and Traffic Management Services, Blackpool Council
Simon Shearwood, Senior Engineer (Pavements & Structures), Norfolk County Council

FAQs

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UK road funding

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Benefits of asphalt

  • Enhances road safety by maintaining high skid resistance and reducing spray
  • Reduces tyre/road surface noise
  • 100 per cent recyclable back into road surfaces
  • Use of lower temperature and/or reduced energy asphalts cut carbon emissions
  • Improves ride comfort
  • Durable – design life of at least 40 years
  • Quick and easy to lay, cutting down on lengthy roadworks