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Concretene wins £1m Ofwat funding for low-carbon tech

On 19 May 2026, Concretene was named as a winner in the sixth Water Breakthrough Challenge by Ofwat’s Water Innovation Fund.

The project, Splitting Biogas, Multiplying Value, is a collaboration led by United Utilities from its Davyhulme wastewater treatment works in Manchester (pictured). Partners alongside Concretene include Tarmac, graphene producer Levidian, ULEMco (hydrogen economy) and Carbon Ion (battery tech). Four other water companies, Anglian, South-West, Wessex, Yorkshire, are included in the project, with the total award amounting to £10 million, of which Concretene’s share is £1m.

Graphene has been proven to enhance the material properties of concrete, allowing for reductions in cement – the most carbon-intensive ingredient – without adversely affecting strength and durability. However, the key barrier to widespread adoption of the technology is repeatability of performance at scale, with limitations relating to reliability of raw material supply.

Graphene is most commonly derived from graphite, of which the UK has no industrial-scale source, and imported graphite has a high environmental footprint from mining and processing. Concretene’s product development work has also shown that commercial graphene materials produced from mined graphite demonstrate high batch-to-batch variation.

The solution comes via innovative processing of wastewater derived biogas, via Levidian’s LOOP process, using microwave energy to split methane into solid carbon and hydrogen. This “bottom-up” approach delivers carbon in the form of highly consistent graphene nanoplatelets. Being derived from biogas and powered by renewable electricity, this graphene production technology delivers a significant net CO2 reduction compared to other graphene and performance-carbon production methods. Application specialists such as Concretene can use this material to deliver lower-carbon concrete infrastructure to the water sector.

Laboratory tests and scaled trials of Concretene admixture using graphene derived from biogas have shown savings of 15-20% in cement are achievable, with Concretene offering users cost-neutrality at scale, i.e. the price of the admixture equals the cost of cement saved. This addresses the other major hurdle to commercial adoption of graphene in concrete: high cost in a commodity sector.

Mike Harrison, CEO of Concretene, said: “It’s a big milestone for us to have developed a born-in-Manchester technology to the stage where we can partner with a major asset owner such as United Utilities. These trials will demonstrate the benefit of our product towards the shared goal of reducing the impact of construction on the climate.”

Ian Hopkins, Chief Commercial Officer of Levidian, said: “Following the successful trial of our LOOP technology at United Utilities’ Davyhulme site, it’s exciting to see Concretene’s graphene-enhanced admixture moving closer to real-world deployment in the water industry. We’re proving that advanced materials can be produced locally, at scale, to support the next generation of low-carbon infrastructure.”

Richard Clarke, United Utilities Programme Manager (Engineering Innovation), said: “This project offers exciting potential to support the development of new, lower carbon products, including concrete, both for the water sector and other industries. More specifically, the availability of graphene from a fully sustainable biogas feed source can directly support both Concretene and our own advances towards net zero.”