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Live Labs 2 Blog

ADEPT Live Labs 2: Decarbonising Local Roads is a three-year, £30million, UK-wide programme funded by the Department for Transport that will run until March 2026. It follows the hugely successful Live Labs 1. This page will give regular updates on the project.

Latest post

Live Labs 2 blog - an update on the Wessex project

Celebrating successes at the halfway point for the Wessex Live Labs 2 project

This month our Live Labs 2 blog comes from Mike O’Dowd-Jones lead officer for the Wessex Partnership: Net Zero Corridors live lab and Service Director of Infrastructure and Transport for Somerset Council. Mike explores the latest information on the net zero corridors project. 

Benefits in real terms
As the Live Labs 2 Wessex project passes the halfway mark, this is a suitable time to reflect on some highlights and achievements of the project so far. Working with our core team and partners, we’ve celebrated both big and incremental achievements.

The project’s focus is carbon reduction. From the start, the Wessex team has sought to include carbon in decision making for local highways. We’ve built tools and methods for carbon analysis, carbon budgeting and future planning, whilst exploring Doughnut Economics. Now, as the demonstration activity increases and we begin using these tools in the real world, we’re starting to see the work yield results and the benefits are becoming visible in real terms.

Demonstrator corridors
Our demonstration projects continue to progress. In Cornwall, we’ve finished activities on the Madron corridor. The final piece of work in December 2022 was to create a so-called ‘virtual footway’ using a skid-resistant coating made from a bio-resin derived from vegetable oil, the first time this has been used in the UK. As well as bio-resin production being much less carbon intensive, we also explored the suitability of using local aggregates to reduce the carbon footprint even further. We will share the knowledge we have gained with the sector once the testing is complete.

In Hampshire, trials on the A30 have used equipment fuelled by a mix of hydrogen and vegetable oil, to reduce the tailpipe carbon emissions from machinery carrying out roadworks. Trials of a new asphalt, which is laid at lower temperature and also replaces some of the bitumen with a naturally-sourced alternative, also show how the embodied carbon of the materials we use can be reduced in practice. 

Hampshire County Council have also taken advantage of the cold weather to commence the trial of an electric gritter which we are using on one of our gritting routes to show that these vital services can be delivered just as effectively when powered by electricity. However, part of the trial will be to learn about any changes to the operations within the depot or out on the roads when moving away from the traditional diesel gritting fleet. Please see more here: https://youtu.be/zLNDDC-tzkM?si=qPU8tPnCVpaO6RoU

And in Somerset as we prepare for the ‘live’ trials starting in 2025, we have been learning from councils within the Wessex partnership and wider Live Labs 2 cohort. This includes the Greenprint project, where we were onsite to observe the processing of South Gloucestershire’s grass cuttings at a facility operated in Somerset.

‘Doughnut Economics’
Our workstream on Doughnut Economics aimed to apply this model to local highways. The goal is to balance environmental and social needs alongside decarbonisation. This is harder for highways than for other sectors, but we’ve created a toolkit, guidance, and resources to help.

The next step is testing and improving this method in different settings. This toolkit is the first of its kind for highways decision-makers and can be used for everything from entire services to individual projects.

Our first test was with Somerset’s Winter Service and Emergency Plan, working with our colleagues at Kier and the council. The toolkit also considers operational team needs, applying the same principles to their work.

Expanding the approach
As the workstreams have progressed, connections between them have become clearer. For example, the Doughnut toolkit’s scorecard links with the Future Highways Research Group’s Carbon Analyser tool. This helps decision-makers combine social, ecological, and robust carbon data. We’ve also shared this work widely, including at Global Doughnut Day and COP29.

So far we’ve calculated carbon footprints for three councils and one road corridor to use as a baseline for interventions. These support work that the University of Exeter are doing to develop a new Carbon Budgeting method specifically for roads; we’re now starting to explore how councils can use this in practice. 

They’re also helping us overcome barriers to change through their research on Positive Tipping Points. For instance, we’re looking at ways to link this work to help find ways to reduce inspection-related travel, first within Somerset Council.

Next Steps
We’ll continue strengthening links between our projects and maintaining momentum. The Doughnut toolkit will be tested across all Wessex authorities at different levels, from contracts to specific maintenance tasks.

We also plan to evaluate recommendations from the lean travel exercise and improve engagement materials. Carbon analysis will expand to focus on specific corridors, showing paths to net zero beyond Live Labs.

Looking Ahead
In Year 3, we’ll demonstrate activities in various corridor locations, including:

  • Cornwall: A391 near St Austell
  • Hampshire: A336 (Cadnam to Netley Marsh) and A32 (Denmead to Droxford)
  • Somerset: Galmington Road (Taunton), A38 (near Devon border), and B3139 (Wells to Highbridge)

The goal is to show how these trials can be scaled up and applied across the sector, especially the carbon budgeting and Doughnut tools. We’ll also continue focusing on behaviour change, which remains the golden thread throughout Live Labs 2; and key to the success of this project and the programme as a whole.

More posts

  • Live Labs 2 blog - Greenprint update

    Greenprint's Journey: overcoming challenges and celebrating successes

    The latest Live Labs 2 blog comes from Chris Harris, South Gloucestershire Council’s lead officer for Greenprint, who shares the latest update on the project.

    Greenprint is an innovative project led by South Gloucestershire Council and West Sussex County Council, focusing on reducing the carbon footprint of highway verge maintenance operations through increased efficiency, innovations and behaviour change. 

    Read more >

  • Live Labs 2 blog – East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Decarbonising Street Lighting project - progress update

    This month’s blog is from Karl Rourke, one of the project leads for the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Decarbonising Street Lighting project. 

    We have hit the halfway mark on our Live Labs 2 project and, along with our partners, it has been an exceptionally busy few months, ranging from technical and research developments, through to a flurry of national and regional media interest in the project.

    Read more >

  • Live Labs 2 blog - reflections on Highways UK 2024 and Live Labs 2 progress

    This month’s blog is from Giles Perkins, Programme Director for Live Labs 2. Giles talks about key takeaways from Highways UK 2024 and how these align with progress made by Live Labs 2 as it reaches the halfway mark.

    We are now halfway through the Live Labs 2 programme - attending Highways UK 2024 offered a fantastic opportunity to reflect on the progress of Live Labs 2 and the broader decarbonisation of infrastructure journey.

    The carbon agenda is embedding

    Read more >

  • Live Labs 2 blog – Liverpool project: project achievements, highlights, next steps

    In this month’s blog Alexis Magne, Innovation Project Manager for the Liverpool Live Labs 2 project, provides an update. A unique member of the project, Alexis spends half of his time working at Liverpool City Council and half on the Colas Ltd Innovation Management Team working across the Live Lab.

    At almost the halfway point for the Live Labs 2 projects, it is incredible to take stock and reflect on the journey we've undertaken so far. In Liverpool this year the project has been marked by many exciting breakthroughs and some significant challenges.

    Read more >

  • Live Labs 2 blog - UK Centre of Excellence for Decarbonising Roads South Campus update

    Joseph Kimberley, Innovation Manager from Colas gives an update on the UK Centre of Excellence for Decarbonising Roads’ South Campus and how their Live Labs 2 project is progressing.

    So far, the ADEPT Live Labs 2 programme has been exciting, challenging and a real adventure.

    Our South Campus project team, comprising Transport for West Midlands and our delivery partner Colas, is keen to share our progress in discovering and evaluating opportunities for material decarbonisation. 

    Read more >

  • Live Labs 2 Blog – update from North Lanarkshire and the Centre of Excellence for Decarbonising Roads

    This month’s blog comes from Lauren SeBlonka, Innovation Project Manager, at Amey and part of North Lanarkshire Council’s Live Labs 2 project team at the Centre of Excellence for Decarbonising Roads, North Campus.

    Over a year into the ADEPT Live Labs 2: Decarbonising local roads programme, the North Lanarkshire Council (NLC) project team have expanded our collective understanding of the challenges and opportunities that exist in the journey to material decarbonisation. 

    Read more >

  • Live Labs 2 blog – update from South Gloucestershire: Greenprint - delivering innovation at the cutting edge

    This month our Live Labs 2 blog comes from Chris Harris, lead officer for Greenprint, South Gloucestershire Council’s green carbon laboratory project, exploring the potential in non-operational highways ‘green’ assets.  

    As we move into the second year of our Live Labs 2 project, we have been reflecting on our journey so far and plotting the steps we need to take next. Sometimes it helps to crunch the numbers on multi-layered projects like those in the Live Labs 2 initiative, so we’ve provided a breakdown. In 2023/24, we’ve: 

    Read more >

  • Live Labs 2 blog – update from the Wessex Partnership: Net Zero Corridors

    This month our Live Labs 2 blog comes from Mike O’Dowd-Jones lead officer for the Wessex Partnership: Net Zero Corridors live lab and Service Director of Infrastructure and Transport for Somerset Council.

    Wessex Partnership: Net Zero Corridors is a partnership between Somerset Council, Cornwall Council and Hampshire County Council, seeking to reduce carbon emissions by changing our ‘business as usual’ approach to highway maintenance. Our activity is focused on several travel corridors which we are using as testbeds for innovation. 

    Read more >

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