Carbon and EPDs

Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) are 3^rd party verified declarations which offer a detailed, and highly structured account of the environmental impacts associated with the manufacture, use and end-of-life of a construction product. The environmental impacts are reported in specific impact categories, such as the Global Warming Potential (GWP) category for products’ embodied carbon emissions. EPDs for precast concrete products are developed in accordance with EN 15804 and EN 16757.

Due to their highly regulated and consistent nature, and due to their strict 3^rd party verification and approval regime, EPDs offer the most accurate picture of the true environmental impacts of construction products. EPDs are used by product manufacturers to demonstrate their lower environmental impacts (e.g. lower embodied carbon) and are frequently used for comparisons across different construction products. The development and use of EPD is also linked to a wide range of regulations in Europe, including the Construction Products Regulation (CPR), Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).

For more information about types of EPD and how they are used, please check the MPA Concrete Centre website here.

The first sector EPDs to ever be developed for precast concrete products in the UK were published in 2007 under BRE’s Environmental Profile scheme. MPA Precast then worked closely with consultants Thinkstep (now Sphera) to publish nine sector EPDs in 2016-2018, covering well over 70% of the precast market in the UK.

A number of our Sector EPDs has since been updated and can be found here:

• 1m² of Ultra-lightweight concrete blocks sector EPD (recognised in market as “lightweight”).
• 1m² of Lightweight concrete blocks sector EPD (recognised in market as “medium density” blocks).
• 1m² of dense concrete blocks sector EPD.
• 1m³ of aircrete (aerated concrete) blocks sector EPD.
• 1m² of prestressed precast concrete hollowcore slabs sector EPD.
• 1 linear metre of prestressed precast T-beams sector EPD.

Our older sector EPDs (from 2016 – 2018) can be found here:

• British Precast Architectural and Structural (BPAS) - 1m² Of Single Leaf Precast Concrete Cladding
• British Precast Architectural and Structural (BPAS) - 1m² Of brick-faced Precast Concrete Cladding
• British Precast Architectural and Structural (BPAS) - 1m³ Of Precast Concrete Ground Beam
• Precast Flooring Federation (PFF) - 1m T-Beam
• Aircrete Products Association (APA) - 1m³ Of Precast Aerated Concrete Blocks
• British Precast Drainage Association (BPDA) - 1m Of DN600 Precast Concrete Pipe with Class B Bedding
• Concrete Block Association (CBA) - 1m² Of Concrete Blocks
• Interpave - 1t Of Precast Concrete Paving Products
• Precast Flooring Federation (PFF) - 1m² Of 150mm Precast Concrete Hollowcore Flooring