The world around us is changing at a rapid rate and with that comes a need for innovation in business, to adapt to these changes and pave the way for what the future may look like. In the industry of civil engineering – where it is our job to construct and maintain the infrastructure that surrounds us – this is as pressing a need as in most sectors of work.

While there will always be a part to play for good old-fashioned human ingenuity, there is a technological revolution rumbling on in the background – one which might eventually take centre stage and change the way we work forever. 

While we aren’t quite at the point of fully automated services and robots tarmacing our roads just yet, there are ways in which civil engineers can embrace the future to speed up processes, limit errors and create a more sustainable way of working.

Sustainable materials reigning supreme

Above all else, the future of civil engineering will likely boil down to a quest towards absolute sustainability. Asphalt is used for 96% of the country’s roads and National Highways points to this material as one that can be varied to create a more efficient and sustainable option, due to it making up around 15% of total construction and maintenance emissions. 

The use of low-carbon technologies such as bio-binders, which replace the fossil fuel-based bitumen from asphalt with more environmentally friendly alternatives, long-life binders, which increase asphalt’s lifespan, and graphene additives to make the asphalt more weather resistant, are already an emerging part of the civil engineering industry and will only grow in prominence.

There are also more routine opportunities to embrace sustainability when it comes to road surfacing. At Minster, 95% of the materials we use are recycled, and we have long adopted a series of waste reduction strategies to lessen our impact on the environment. We limit the need for crude oil and quarrying on our projects, without compromising on the strength and durability of the surfaces we lay, ensuring that our carbon emissions are reduced.

To enable sustainability like this, we use Foambase technology as well as CBGM (cement-bound granular material), both of which are high-quality alternatives to hot asphalt, and these are produced at our mobile recycling plant. In comparison to using conventional hot asphalt, the production of Foambase produces 30% less CO2 and we can also recycle it again, giving the material a huge lifespan. This means there’s a carbon saving every time Foambase is used instead of hot asphalt – around 50% according to OCL Regeneration.

As well as this, we also recycle road planings that have been extracted from old road surfaces we replace on local authority jobs, crushing and screening them to make a Type 5 material for grading and composition. The waste we use for this typically consists of items recovered from bins and stockpiles created by the local authority in their day-to-day operations, utilising materials such as concrete and hardcore before we bring it back to Minster HQ for crushing and screening into this new Type 5 material.

Smart cities

Just what is a smart city? In the grander sense, it means utilising data and advanced technology to improve the living standards of an area. That could be surveillance systems to boost public safety, optimising resources to promote sustainability and reduce carbon footprints, or even as simple as installing energy-efficient buildings into built up areas. 

In the more acute sense of road surfacing and civil engineering, a series of exciting innovations have been devised all over the world to produce real-time solutions to problems on our roads. Many councils already allow members of the public to flag road faults through interactive maps, but technology can also allow for sensors to be installed within road surfaces that will provide accurate data to keep road users safer, as well as interactive road markings that can change colour depending on the level of hazard or traffic on a road. Technology can also be used to keep up with the ultramodern design of connected cars that are kitted out with all the latest tech and data monitoring. 

These are all methods that are being explored for future use in the UK, with the potential to even provide predictive maintenance – which would not only save time and resources, but also enable issues to be addressed on the roads before they become a major safety risk.

It all comes at a cost

While it is expected that smart technologies and sustainable innovations will save money in the long run, the initial investment to implement these strategies will likely be high, at a time where funding and spending models are already stretched across our highway network. 

The Asphalt Industry Alliance estimates that the national backlog of road repairs now sits at £17 billion, so there is still much to be done to ensure businesses like ours can innovate and drive growth in this crucial sector.

If you are interested in our civil engineering and road surfacing services, reach out to us via our contact form here.