Concrete Compass: Biodiversity and natural environment
Broom Quarry, Bedfordshire: a former sand and gravel quarry restored to a mixture of wildflower meadows, wetlands, woodland and farmland, transforming what was originally agricultural land of limited biodiversity value.
The principle of embedding nature more effectively into our built environment is one that is rightly receiving a lot of attention and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) became mandatory for development in England from February 2024. Greening the urban environment has been shown to reduce the heat island effect and the risk of overheating as well as improving flood resilience and encouraging biodiversity.
The UK quarry industry has a long track record of delivering biodiversity net gain, achieved by working closely with bodies including Natural England, the Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB. More than 700 of the UK’s sites of special scientific interest (SSIs) are in former quarry sites which deliver multiple natural capital and ecosystem service benefits such as water storage and flood management, landscape enhancement and carbon sequestration.
This Compass aims to help navigate towards the range of evolving resources and guidance that demonstrate ways in which concrete can be used to support regenerative design and nature-based solutions in development projects. It also summarises and signposts to industry action and credentials to support nature and enhance biodiversity through manufacture of concrete and its supply chain.
Local, responsibly-sourced materials and manufacture
Unlike most other materials the supply chain for concrete is predominantly local. Over 95% of concrete used in the UK is manufactured within the UK. This has numerous advantages in both sustainable and regenerative terms. When considering the biodiversity impacts of concrete used in the UK consideration and understanding of UK production methods and its local material sources is required, rather than global statistics or examples.
Extraction of materials, and the manufacture of concrete and cement in the UK has well established regulation with strict environmental and procedural processes in place. This includes controls related to air quality, water, impacts on biodiversity and landscapes, transport, health and safety.
During 2023, 96% of UK concrete produced was BES 6001 responsible sourcing accredited and over 98% of concrete production sites were covered by a UKAS Environmental Management System (EMS), ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems or equivalent. 99.7% of relevant prediction sites have site stewardship and Biodiversity action plans. Further details can be found in the UK Concrete Sustainable Construction Strategy annual performance reports.
A Focus on nature and mineral supply in the UK
The Mineral Products Association (MPA) is the trade association for the vast majority of minerals produced within the UK and represents most of the supply chain for concrete and its manufacture. Its activity and the activity of its members is therefore fundamental to understanding concrete’s impacts.
Details of the industry’s ongoing commitments are set out in the MPA Biodiversity Strategy.
The ecological value of a site is a key consideration for permitting extraction, and restoration is often staged through the temporary life of a quarry not just after extraction is complete. Sites of aggregate extraction thus present a positive opportunity for enabling development to deliver improvements in biodiversity – for example, agricultural land with low biodiversity can be quarried, with restoration to a rich mixture of habitats benefitting many species.
For context, mineral extraction in the UK today occupies a very small area of land compared to the tonnage of essential minerals it provides. According to the 2022 government land use statistics only 0.1% of England is designated as ‘Minerals and landfill’ and this includes all minerals not just those that feed into the concrete supply chain. Less than 0.1% of the UK’s continental shelf is licensed for aggregate extraction, with just 0.01% dredged.
The long history of success in the sector’s quarry restoration programme is described in this publication with an associated film.
The bi-annual MPA Quarries and Nature Awards celebrate and showcase the best examples of site management and restoration delivering landscape-scale benefits, demonstrating innovation and planning for nature recovery in the future. The films of the entrants and winners from the 2025 Biodiversity & Restoration/'Quarries and Nature' Awards are here with an overview of the achievements and winners here.
Restoration of quarries also provide important social outcomes and is also a high priority of the industry, as the MPA national nature park map of accessible restored former quarries illustrates.
A focus on Natural Environment in the UK Concrete Sustainable Construction Strategy
Biodiversity has been a key performance indicator of the UK Concrete Industry’s Sustainable Construction Strategy since the Strategy’s initial inception in 2008. In 2024 this evolved into a new framework, in which ‘Natural Environment’ represents one of the 5 sector commitments.
For more information on the concrete industry's biodiversity achievements and targets in the first 10 years of the strategy, see This is Concrete: Ten Years, Ten Insights.
The Strategy’s current Natural Environment commitment is summarised as ‘Supporting biodiversity, building partnerships and exploring the ways concrete can benefit nature and society’. Further details and evolving activities can be found here.
Use of concrete to support of biodiversity and nature-based solutions in the built environment
Concrete plays an essential role in the development of green infrastructure and nature-based solutions in built up areas.
Concrete’s inherent stability, robustness and resilience to water makes it ideal to support all types of green walls, blue and green roofs. It is the structural material necessary to take accommodation, transport routes and other essential infrastructure below ground freeing up space to create and connect parks and green spaces at the surface. There are also many concrete products developed to be used as part of sustainable urban drainage strategies essential for replenishing ground water and to support adjacent planting.
Grey Supporting Green is an article, originally featured in CONCRETE magazine, which explores the important role that concrete plays in supporting green infrastructure in the UK and its strong biodiversity credentials.
According to the Green Roof Code of Best Practice for the UK, where a flat roof is to act as a roof terrace or roof garden (i.e. an intensive green roof) they should only be used in conjunction with concrete decks. In other words, concrete is essential for the creation of accessible roof gardens to provide the associated amenity, and physical access to plants and fresh air, with opportunity for more diverse planting provided by the greater substrate depths achievable with intensive roof systems compared to extensive green roofs.
The benefits of green roofs and the key role of concrete in creating a biodiverse roofscape are explored in Concrete Quarterly article, ‘The growth of the green roof’.
Sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) are designed to manage surface water runoff and are fundamental to reducing the risk of surface water flooding. Many incorporate nature-based solutions, to reduce the number of impermeable surfaces in a development.
Concrete products designed to be used with SuDs include a wide range of precast block paving, pervious concrete cast in situ, hollow concrete kerbs and water diffusers. They help provide essential hard standing and thoroughfares as well as effective rainwater management.
A deeper dive into concrete SuDS, with numerous links to additional resources can be found in the Climate Change Resilience compass.
The article, Magic Sponges, in Concrete Futures 2025, addresses common misconceptions about SuDS, and explains why permeable urban landscapes are more important than ever.
This technical Application article in Concrete Quarterly, summer 2025, explains how concrete block permeable paving can be used to create durable urban landscapes that support tree growth.
A common thread in nature-based design is the approach to water and opening up access to this natural resource and replacing hard barriers in favour of ‘softer’ edges such as beaches, or floodable green spaces.
Many existing hard coastal and flood defences are constructed using concrete, and where space constraints dictate, remain the most durable, robust and cost-effective material of choice whether cast in situ or as precast elements. There are opportunities to use concrete that delivers both flood protection and benefits to marine and coastal biodiversity demonstrated by a growing number of projects around the UK:
Bio Blocks in Plymouth Harbour: created to contain multiple habitats to offer shelter for creatures that need to keep wet when the tide is out.”
The Mumbles sea hive project is showcased in this Concrete Futures webinar ‘Embracing ecological principles in infrastructure design’ presented by the marine ecologists and concrete manufacturer collaborating on the project to develop eco-marine mix designs for use in Wales.
Shaping better places - Creating habitat for biodiversity using concrete is the recording of a live stream from the workshop of Artecology demonstrating its work to enhance the beauty and biodiversity of artificial coastal structures and river flood defences.
Innovative solutions for creating habitat using concrete include bee and bat boxes and ‘bioreceptive’ concrete.
Poikilohydric living walls are a type of bioreceptive concrete which is specially designed to encourage the growth of cryptogams and poikilohydric organisms such as moss, algae and lichens, with the capacity to tolerate dehydration and therefore requiring no irrigation.
More information about these innovations and other topics related to concrete and biodiversity can be found in the ‘Remixed’ edition of Concrete Futures magazine.
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