Now live across five berths in North Harbour—with additional capacity to expand—the installation is expected to reduce up to 60,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent over the next 20 years. This saving is equivalent to removing approximately 2,140 cars from the road each year. also sets out how UK Government policy changes could support faster deployment of shore power at other ports.

The success of the project not only helps Aberdeen advance its ambition to become the UK’s first net zero port by 2040 but also demonstrates the crucial role university research plays in real-world climate solutions. Dr Bullock and the Tyndall team’s sustained involvement from early research to full deployment highlights the lasting value of academic contributions to national decarbonisation efforts.

The project, known as Shore Power in Operation, is part of the UK Department for Transport’s Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure (ZEVI) competition, delivered through UK SHORE and Innovate UK. With £4 million in funding and extensive collaboration between industry and academia, it represents a landmark public-private investment in cleaner port infrastructure.

Port of Aberdeen led the initiative in partnership with a broad consortium including OSM Offshore, Tidewater Marine UK Ltd, 51������ed Places Catapult, and researchers from the Tyndall Centre based in the University of 51������, with support from Buro Happold and Energy Systems Catapult. PowerCon, a global leader in shore power solutions, delivered the on-site infrastructure.

As nations around the world aim to meet climate targets set by the Paris Agreement, the researchers highlight that without careful planning, effort to cut emissions could unintentionally maintain or widen existing regional gaps in access to services, such as how energy and water are distributed.

To help address this, the team have developed a framework, published in the journal , which uses artificial intelligence tools combined with detailed country-scale digital twin simulators to help identify infrastructure intervention plans that reduce emissions while fairly managing access to vital services like electricity and water, and improving food production.

The approach aims to help achieve sustainability and climate targets, particularly in countries with complicated interdependencies between sectors and inequitable access to services. It helps ensure that no region or community is left behind in the journey to net zero and supports UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Using a case study of Ghana, the research shows that reaching a fairer, low-carbon energy transition will not only require increased investments in renewable energy and transmission infrastructure but also more informed social, economic, and environmental planning. Countries must consider who benefits from infrastructure investments – not just how much carbon they cut.

This research was published in the journal Nature Communications.

Full title: Delivering equity in low-carbon multisector infrastructure planning

DOI:

Link:

Our research is at the forefront of the energy transition. Guided by our innovative spirit and interdisciplinary outlook, we work to mitigate climate change while transforming our energy system, to enable a just and prosperous future for all. Find out more about our energy research. 

Professor Carly McLachlan, Director of 51������ Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, was among a group of government officials, business leaders and climate organisations at the exclusive conference hosted by King Charles III.

The reception, on 6 November, aimed to accelerate climate action before the UN climate change conference Cop29.

Professor McLachlan represented the University’s collaboration with Act 1.5, an artist-led research and action initiative incepted by the band Massive Attack to address carbon reduction within live music. Act 1.5 works closely with climate scientists at the , with its name referencing the goal of keeping global temperature rises below 1.5°C, in line with the Paris Agreement.

At the event Professor McLachlan and the team had the opportunity to discuss their project to the UK’s climate leaders, highlighting how the live music industry can play a pivotal role in reducing carbon emissions and inspiring sustainable practices across the entertainment sector and beyond.

Following several years of developmental work by Act 1.5 in collaboration with the Tyndall Centre at 51������, the city of Liverpool was recently named the . The city will become a testing ground for innovative ideas and climate strategies in music, film, and television.

The initiative will officially launch later this month in Liverpool with three nights of live performances and a two-day conference, one for industry and one for the public, dedicated to exploring sustainable practices in the live entertainment sector.

It builds on a commissioned by the band Massive Attack to produce what is anticipated to have been the lowest greenhouse gas emissions show of its size ever staged.

After a year, the Accelerator status will be passed to another global city. The University’s researchers will work with various ‘experiments’ across the Liverpool City Region to capture and synthesise the insights gained from Liverpool’s experiences to inform the next Accelerator City.

The Act 1.5 and Accelerator City initiative were represented by Robin Kemp, Head of Creative at Culture Liverpool; and musician Nile Rodgers, alongside Professor McLachlan at the Buckingham Palace Reception. Four-time Grammy Award winner Nile Rodgers will play one of the three nights of shows in Liverpool later this month.

Led by Professor Deborah Greaves at the University of Plymouth, the Supergen ORE Hub includes co-directors from a consortium of ten universities. From 51������, serves as a Co-Director and is an Early Career Researcher (ECR) Co-Lead.

The report, aimed at researchers, industry, policymakers, and the public, summarises the current impacts of climate change and the UK’s progress in reducing carbon emissions. It outlines offshore renewable energy deployment pathways needed for a just, sustainable and secure energy transition, with 2040 identified as a key milestone towards the UK 2050 Net Zero goals.

Key findings from the report include:

• Achieving 100 GW of offshore wind energy by 2040 is critical, requiring a nearly seven times increase in capacity. Radical innovation is essential to optimise and scale up growth.
• Tidal stream energy has the potential to grow alongside offshore wind and could reach over 11 GW of capacity in UK waters. Rapid progress is required, to deliver the EU SET Plan target of 6 GW deployment of tidal stream by 2050.
• Wave energy has significant potential, with an estimated exploitable resource of 25 GW in the UK. Deployment of 12 GW of wave and tidal stream by 2050 could add £40 billion GVA to the UK economy and reduce energy balancing costs by £1 billion annually. Investment in innovation over the next decade is crucial to achieving this potential.

Professor Tim Stallard said: “The ORE Outlook 2040 report highlights the high potential for Offshore Renewable Energy sources to contribute to the UK meeting its Net Zero goals. The growth required cannot be realised by upscaling current approaches alone and urgent action is needed to accelerate innovation and deployment.”

The report also explores ORE development through lenses of planning and consenting, people, supply chain, and infrastructure and grid. Investment in research and innovation is highlighted as crucial to de-risking new technologies, reducing costs, improving performance and ensuring the UK retains its technological leadership on the global stage.

The Supergen ORE Hub, established by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), aims to deliver strategic and coordinated research on sustainable power generation and supply.

Backed by a £4.2 million funding award from UK Research and Innovation’s building a secure and resilient world strategic theme, the University team will drive a Research and Coordination Hub in confronting pressing risks and threats both online and in the world around us.  

Led by Dr Richard Kirkham, Deputy Director of the  at 51������, the project known as (Secure And ResiLIENT), will bring 51������ academics together with partners from the universities of Bath, Exeter and Sussex, to catalyse, convene and conduct research and innovation in support of the UK's national security and resilience. 

will drive interdisciplinary research to tackle some of the UK's most challenging security problems. Their focus will be on robust and secure supply chains, global order in a time of change, technologies used for security and defence, behavioural and cultural resilience, and strengthening resilience in our natural and built environments.  

This ambitious five-year investment, following a highly competitive selection process, will enable the SALIENT team to build strong connections across a broad group of stakeholders in central and local government, the devolved administrations and crucially, the public.

Dr Kirkham continued: “Our approach will promote a culture of genuine interdisciplinarity, co-production and citizen engagement, ensuring that the research we do is relevant, timely and represents value for money.” 

Duncan Shaw, Professor of Operational Research and Critical Systems at 51������, added: “Enhancing the resilience of systems and society is an epic ambition, one that has challenged the UK for years. SALIENT amasses an impressive multidisciplinary team that we will expand with policy and practice subject matter experts. Together we will pursue an exciting endeavour to make a real difference to resilience at home and create transferable lessons of global significance.” 

The drone, made from a cardboard-like material called foamboard, measures 6.4m (21 ft) corner to corner and weighs 24.5kg – 0.5kg less than the weight limit set by the Civil Aviation Authority.

The innovative design of the drone, dubbed the Giant Foamboard Quadcopter (GFQ), means it is unlike any other in existence. The four arms are formed of a series of hollow box structures and can be easily removed for transportation. There is no record of a purpose-built uncrewed quadcopter (four rotors) of any weight class which is larger than the 51������ vehicle as of the time of writing.

The project started as a curiosity-driven venture to inspire students’ creativity in design by utilising a suitable alternative low-cost material for lightweight aerospace structures that is more environmentally friendly than the usual carbon fibre.

Unlike carbon fibre, low-density sheet materials can be highly recyclable, or even compostable. The researchers hope this demonstration will inspire the next generation of designers to think about sustainability from a completely new perspective.

Dan Koning, a research engineer at 51������, who led the design and build of the vehicle, said: “Foamboard is an interesting material to work with, used in the right way we can create complex aerospace structures where every component is designed to be only as strong as it needs to be - there is no room for over-engineering here.

“Thanks to this design discipline and after extensive background research, we can say with confidence that we have built the largest quadcopter drone in the world.”

Whilst this drone was developed purely as a proof-of-concept exercise, future iterations of this vehicle type could be designed to carry large payloads over short distances or used as a drone ‘mothership’ in air-to-air docking experiments.

The quadcopter was built from sheets of 5mm thick foamboard, which has a foam core and paper skin. The sheets were laser cut to size and assembled into the 3D structure by hand using only hot melt glue.

Josh Bixler, world renowned YouTuber and innovator in remote-controlled aviation is the President of , the company that makes the foamboard used in the GFQ.

Commenting on the work, Josh said: “So many times aircraft with advanced features are made of costly materials and we truly believe they don’t have to be. Seeing engineers push the limits in such an approachable, yet extravagant way was inspirational and showed that they were truly thinking outside of the box.”

GFQ is powered by four electric motors running off a 50-volt battery pack. It also has an on-board flight control system and can fly autonomously.

The first flight took place on 5 July 2023 inside the main hangar at the Snowdonia Aerospace Centre during the CASCADE Collaboration Workshop Week where teams from various universities around the UK come together to demonstrate their latest research tech and brainstorm innovation.

Kieran Wood, a Lecturer of Aerospace Systems at 51������, who piloted the vehicle, said: “The first moments of flight are the make-or-break point for these types of multi-copter drones. There are many hundreds of things that you must get right. If everything has been designed and built well, we expect success, but any problems will become very apparent in a rapid unscheduled disassembly on the first take-off.”

The project builds on the previous success of an equally  Following this, a student society was created at the University specifically to focus on developing lightweight, large scale foamboard Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

Over the last year, a team of undergraduates helped build and test various critical sub-components of the structure.

Bill Crowther, a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at 51������, said: “Working with foamboard provides a unique learning opportunity for students to experiment with innovative structural designs. Although the material is strong for its weight, it requires significant engineering skill to exploit its structural potential. Ultimately, with this design you are holding up 25kg of aircraft with just a few strategically placed pieces of paper - that’s the art of the possible.”

The team are now looking to optimise the design of the Giant Foamboard Quadcopter further.

Dan Koning added: “The lessons we’ve learned from this pathfinder vehicle should help us add a few more metres to the next one. But to go 50% bigger, you’ve got to get 100% smarter.”

In a world-first for the sector, the team has laid the floor slab of a new gym in Amesbury, Wiltshire with graphene-enhanced 'Concretene', removing 30% of material and all steel reinforcement. Depending on the size of onward projects, Nationwide Engineering estimates a 10-20% saving to its customers.

What's concrete's problem?

Production of cement for concrete in the building industry is one of the leading causes of global carbon dioxide emissions. Remarkably, if concrete were a country, it would be the third largest emitter in the world behind only China and the US, producing around 8% of global CO₂ emissions.

The addition of tiny amounts of graphene - a so-called ‘2D material’ made of a single layer of carbon atoms - strengthens Concretene by around 30% compared to standard RC30 concrete, meaning significantly less is needed to achieve the equivalent structural performance.

“We are thrilled to have developed and constructed this game-changing, graphene-enhanced concrete on a real project,” said Alex McDermott, co-founder and managing director of Nationwide Engineering, who is also a civil engineering graduate from 51������. “Together with our partners at 51������’s and structural engineers , we are rapidly evolving our knowledge and experience and are positioned for wider industry deployment through our construction frameworks, becoming the go-to company for graphene-enhanced concrete.”

What could this mean for the building industry?

Nationwide Engineering has three existing five-year construction frameworks with Network Rail and two seven-year Government Crown commercial building frameworks. With Network Rail committing to an 11% reduction in CO₂ emissions over the next four years, graphene-enhanced concrete shows significant potential to help meet this target.

For example, the HS2 high-speed rail project is expected to use 19.7 million tonnes of concrete, creating around 5 million tonnes of CO₂ (around 1.4% of UK annual CO₂ emissions). And that’s just in concrete production, before you add in the hundreds of thousands of train and lorry journeys needed to transport the material to site.

While there is still distance to travel between a low-risk floor slab and the performance requirements of high-speed rail, a 30% reduction in material across a range of engineering applications would make a significant difference to environmental impact and costs in the construction industry.

Rolled out across the global building industry supply chain, the technology has the potential to shave 2% off worldwide emissions.

How does graphene-enhanced concrete work?

Liquid concrete sets into its solid form through chemical reactions known as hydration and gelation, where the water and cement in the mixture react to form a paste that dries and hardens over time.

Graphene makes a difference by acting as a mechanical support and as a catalyst surface for the initial hydration reaction, leading to better bonding at microscopic scale and giving the finished product improved strength, durability and corrosion resistance.

Crucially, Concretene can be used just like standard concrete, meaning no new equipment or training is needed in the batching or laying process, and cost-savings can be passed directly to the client.

Graphene@51������ team on-site in Amesbury (l-r): Craig Dawson, Happiness Ijije, Lisa Scullion

Dr Craig Dawson, Application Manager at the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre, explained further: “We have produced a graphene-based additive mixture that is non-disruptive at the point of use. That means we can dose our additive directly at the batching plant where the concrete is being produced as part of their existing system, so there’s no change to production or to the construction guys laying the floor.

“We have been able to do this via thorough investigation - alongside our University colleagues from the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering - of the materials we are using and we can tailor this approach to use any supplier’s graphene, so we are not beholden to a single supplier,” he added. “This makes Concretene a more viable proposition as there is increased security of supply.”

At Amesbury, an initial pour of 234m² of Concretene was conducted on site on 6 May, with a further 495m² laid on Tuesday 25 May to complete the concrete floor slab. The graphene used for the pour on 25 May was supplied by .

Nationwide Engineering will manage and monitor the site during its fit-out and onward operation, effectively making the Southern Quarter gym - itself a carbon-neutral proposition - a ‘living laboratory’ to measure and evaluate the performance of the material.

The project has been funded by Nationwide Engineering, Innovate UK and the European Regional Development Fund’s Bridging the Gap programme as a joint venture with 51������’s Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) and Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE).

Advanced materials is one of 51������’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons
 

Contract represents one of the largest capital developments ever undertaken by a UK higher education institution.

51������ has today announced that the £287 million contract to construct the 51������ Engineering Campus Development (MECD) has been formally awarded to Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group.

The four-year project forms an essential part of 51������’s ten-year to create a world-class estate benefitting staff, students and visitors.

This will support the University’s strategic goals of creating world-class research, providing an outstanding learning environment and student experience and social responsibility. will provide a state-of-the-art facility, housing the University’s schools, innovative teaching spaces and research institutes such as and the BP- International Centre for Advanced Materials ().

It will consolidate the majority of the University’s estate onto one main campus, creating a more compact and coherent infrastructure that reduces the institution’s carbon footprint and costs. MECD will also free up considerable land holdings in the north of the campus, contributing to the future economic success of the city with redevelopment opportunities in a prime city centre location.

Upon completion, the facility will benefit from ‘green’ construction techniques resulting in smart energy consumption and advanced water recycling and waste systems. The development will host a wide range of flexible hi-specification laboratories and lecture spaces to welcome up to 7,000 students and 1,300 staff. MECD will also incorporate blended learning facilities, workshops and a ‘maker space’ where students will see their engineering creations come to life.

At peak construction, the project will employ a workforce of 1,000, including multiple apprenticeships and graduate placements. The project will also create new job opportunities for unemployed local people through the University’s Construction Academy, which provides local residents with exposure to career opportunities in the construction sector. The project team will maximise the use of off-site manufacture and the latest in BIM technology to optimise construction efficiency and deliver a smart facility of the highest standard.

Dean Banks, Managing Director, UK Construction Services, said: “We are delighted to have been appointed to construct the MECD, one of the largest single developments ever undertaken by a higher education institution in the UK.

“We have extensive expertise in the higher education sector having delivered schemes such as the Holyrood postgraduate village at the University of Edinburgh, The Diamond building for the Engineering Faculty for the University of Sheffield, and the Foundry Courtyard Student Accommodation Complex in Glasgow. Our longstanding expertise enables us to provide 51������, its staff and students with an iconic campus, in addition to delivering multiple benefits to local communities including job generation and apprenticeship opportunities.”

Diana Hampson, Director of at 51������, said: “The 51������ Engineering Campus Development will be a world-leading centre for learning and research. This development is central to the University’s ten-year Campus Masterplan which is creating an exceptional environment for our exceptional people. We are providing state-of-the-art facilities that will rival those of our international competitors and help attract world-class academic talent to the institution."

Balfour Beatty was appointed to the University’s Construction Partnering Framework in May 2015 and has been working under a Pre-Construction Services Agreement (PCSA) since November 2015, enabling design development and early engagement with key supply chain partners.