SP0284: Sustainable Concrete

The Design Services department intends to hire Arup, a global structural engineering firm specialized in sustainable concrete standards and design, to develop a sustainable concrete standard based on best practices from around the world. This includes design practices that go beyond concrete mixes and look to decrease the overall amount of concrete required in a project. Additionally, Englobe, a local firm specializing is concrete testing, specifications, and analysis, will be hired to work with Arup and local concrete manufacturers to ensure the McGill concrete design standard is adapted to the local context, ambitious, and easy to integrate into construction projects. GHG emissions from concrete can be reduced by more than 75% when following best practices. On a construction project like the New Vic, this would be equivalent to a reduction of approximately ten thousand tonnes of CO2. Structural engineers in Quebec are inexperienced with sustainable concrete. Therefore, the Arup and Englobe mandates would also include a bank of hours to provide technical support to the Design Services team during the initial transition period following the implementation of the new concrete standards. This is to assist in addressing the technical questions that will likely arise from structural engineers working on new McGill projects who have never worked with sustainable concrete mixes before (FMAS has no in-house experts that could answer these questions). It is important to note that although sustainable concrete standards have been developed elsewhere, McGill can only inspire itself from initiatives of this nature because concrete specifications must be developed according to the local climate and availability of materials. Concrete must be sourced from a plant within 2.5 hours of when it is poured. As such, all standards related to the specification of concrete must be developed in consultation with local concrete manufacturers. Furthermore, the mixes of concrete vary based on weather and must be developed for the regional climate. The final deliverable of this project is a publicly available technical document, posted on the FMAS
website, that acts as an instruction manual for structural engineers working on McGill construction projects. This document outlines how they must specify concrete mixes and design projects in order to reduce carbon emissions. The guidance provided in this document could also be adopted by anyone in the greater Montreal area, as it will be tailored to the realities of the local climate and local market.