of Strathclyde to build a case for the project and the full-time employment of a specialist KTP associate who will be based within Mackenzie Construction, working under the supervision of Contracts Director, Mark Wilson and supported by Dr Matteo Pedrotti and Professor Alessandro Tarantino. Having been successful with the funding application in April 2021, the focus will now be on recruiting the KTP associate and setting out the road map for the project. The KTP will embed valuable capability in geomechanics and hydromechanics to test and capture the performance characteristics of our binder under a range of environmental and loading
conditions, both in laboratory and field environments. This will generate robust evidence to demonstrate the performance and benefits of Smart Surface, across a range of environmental profiles. Andy Dalrymple, Managing Director at Mackenzie Construction said: “Ultimately, our goal is to support our clients with their net zero targets by implementing sustainable practices and developing environmentally friendly services that facilitate carbon reduction. The KTP will enable us to offer our clients a more sustainable and circular surfacing solution and a progressive service resulting in greater reduction in costs, project timings, carbon outputs and environmental impact.”
Matteo Pedrotti, Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Strathclyde said: “Our research group has been investing significantly towards the development of low-carbon design in geotechnical engineering via a range of novel bio-chemical technologies. We were excited to learn about the concept of Smart Surface from Mackenzie Construction and are looking forward to contributing towards its further development. Our research thrives on the synergy between Industry and Academia and this project will allow our research to make a tangible impact in today’s society.”
Net zero update From HSE Advisor and in-house Carbon Champion, Ryan Taggart
We continue to make progress towards our net zero targets and have been considering innovative ways to build more sustainable practices. We have been exploring options for in-house software solutions that are helping with our move towards ostensibly paperless sites over the next two to three years. As part of our digitalisation strategy, we have recruited software developer, David Payne, who has been working on developing a common data environment which will ultimately cut our carbon emissions versus traditional information sharing. By building our software in-house we are able to tailor our systems to suit the needs of our people and our clients rather than relying on standardised software which often requires a degree of compromise. We’ve also continued with agile working throughout the COVID-19 pandemic which has seen a dramatic reduction in our office power consumption and reduces the amount of traffic travelling to and from the office. We are aiming to have our head office running on fully renewable power by 2025.
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