Urban&Civic have trialled ACLA, a carbon negative product developed by Low Carbon Materials, on our Alconbury Weald scheme. Working in partnership with Low Carbon Materials and Cambridgeshire County Council, the trial took place in 2025. We used the product on a 180 metre stretch of footpath that will connect Huntingdon Town centre to Alconbury Weald.
By using just 6.7 percent of the biochar-based aggregate in the asphalt binder course, the embodied carbon emissions from the footpath were reduced by 53 per cent. To find out more about the trial watch the video below:
How does it work?
ACLA reacts with CO₂, removing the carbon from the atmosphere
CO₂ is permanently
stored within the ACLA
ACLA is then added to the asphalt mixture, removing the CO₂ that would have contributed to climate change
"Seeing Urban&Civic deploy this is a really great way of us being able to experiment, being able to try different things and find out how they can work for all of us across the county and all of our residents."
Councillor Alex Beckett - Cambridgeshire County Council
"As well as being a very sustainable material we've done our due dilligence with Urban&Civic and Low carbon materials to ensure the product is sfae and fit for purpose"
Shane luck - Cambridgeshire Highways