Live Labs 2 blog – an update from the Devon A382 project
This month in our Live Labs 2 blog, Beth Lewis from Devon County Council and project lead on the Devon A382 Live Labs initiative, shares an important update and reflects on the lessons in resilience the project has offered.
As you’ll probably have seen, things have been a little quiet on the Devon County Council Live Labs 2 front recently. This is due to the project’s reliance on the A382 scheme which falls under the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Major Roads Network Programme.
The A383 corridor
The Devon Live Labs 2 project along the A382, including the Jetty Marsh Link Road, aims to radically accelerate the reduction of carbon emissions associated with the construction and maintenance of UK highways on major road schemes. Key goals of the project include demonstrating that by combining current and developing initiatives, carbon negative highways are possible.
Already, and despite changes to the programme of the project, we have been able to test new processes, materials and standards. The A382 project was chosen because it provides a unique ‘Live Laboratory’ opportunity to drive carbon changes to the design, construction and maintenance on a larger scale local highways project.
The variety of infrastructure within the project has meant that any learning derived from our trials can be quickly applied to a broad scope of UK highways projects.
Latest news
As a result of the spending review and further to a recent announcement on the Major Road Network Programme and its funding, we are thrilled that both the A382 road work, including activity on our innovative Live Labs 2 project, will be continuing. This means that we can now progress to site in the autumn, albeit a year later than planned. The delay in receiving this decision has had an inevitable impact on what we aimed to deliver, but as a team we are looking forward to achieving as much as possible in the time remaining.
The project and the events and changes surrounding it have been a real lesson in perseverance and resilience; essential aspects of the Live Labs 2 ethos. Despite the hiatus on the main site, as we waited for news and updates on funding, the facets of the project aligned with the major road infrastructure change have been carrying on in the background.
Project successes
The nursery which was set up in the early part of 2024 has been through its first full year. The transplanted trees are looking healthy, and we’ve had fewer losses compared with our expectations which has been a huge bonus.
This is due in part to the trees being kept close to their original location where they are already acclimatised to the local environment and the weather patterns in South Devon. We held a CPD session at the nursery for our landscape team who are excited to replicate it on future projects and are starting to explore ideas and plan which plants will go where in the overall landscaping. We’ll also be undertaking essential pruning and training of the plants to suit their new home.
Having these more mature trees available for landscaping has led to additional benefits. One of which is the opportunity to design out a culvert, included in the plan to enable bats to cross the road unharmed, with a hop-over created from the larger trees. A culvert that used precast concrete sections transported to site from further away would have been carbon intensive in terms of the materials used and added to the complexity of construction. The opportunity to install a natural solution has reduced the programme duration and costs as well as reducing the carbon.
As part of the vegetation clearance, any timber which has a use has been taken to a local sawmill where it will be processed and then returned to site. The residual timber has been chipped and using a mobile pyrolysis plant the chip has been processed, turning it into biochar. The biochar, which has locked in the carbon absorbed by the trees, will be incorporated into the soil during the landscaping process. Biochar offers benefits through its nutrient and water retention qualities. By using it within the planting scheme we aim to improve the ability of the plants to establish and thrive and to survive the drier weather conditions that are becoming more frequent in this part of the country. The biochar will also be used in the sustainable drainage features to improve their water retention and the quality of the surface water run-off.
Understanding carbon hotspots
The carbon reduction of Devon’s Live Lab covers not only the materials that we use on site but also how we design and deliver construction projects. Having a detailed breakdown of the carbon hotspots across the scheme has enabled us to identify areas where interventions are needed. With this information we can either make changes to reduce what we build or find an alternative way of delivering the same outcome. The chart in the image below shows a breakdown of the baseline with the blocks representing the elements of the scheme and their relative carbon impact. An example of where this information has been used to determine action is on the earthworks section of the project which accounts for a significant proportion of the overall carbon.
Nearly a third of the carbon for the earthworks would come from how we deal with excess soil arising from the excavations on the works. Traditionally this material would be transported to a landfill site but instead we will be using the material to form a landscape bund in land adjacent to the scheme. This will save over 500 tCO2e, amounting to over a quarter of the total carbon within the earthworks element of the project. This change not only reduces carbon it also reduces vehicles on the wider network, lowers project costs, removes the need for an acoustic fence and creates additional habitats.
We recognise that there is no single solution to reach carbon negative but making numerous changes adds up to a significant impact.
Onwards and upwards
For now, the team are excited and ready to get going again now that the decision on funding has been delivered. This milestone enables us to start implementing our plans, starting with changes to the main site compounds and set up, but also to properly engage with the supply chain on materials and ways of working.
There is much to do but we have bold ambitions and are looking forward to meeting the challenges of our unique Live Labs 2 project. We will be providing more information on other news and project updates in future blogs and via the ADEPT LinkedIn page.
Further information
- For more information on ADEPT Live Labs 2: Decarbonising Local Roads in the UK, please look at the Live Labs 2 section on the website
- For more information about the Devon County Council project, visit the A382 website
Author
- Beth Lewis, Devon County Council's Principal Engineer - Major Projects
