Life cycle assessment and optimisation of waste stone structures - ISCC summer placement

Interest in stone as a sustainable construction material is growing, driven by its heritage, abundance, and potential for low embodied emissions compared to typical alternatives like concrete. However, stone is currently expensive, produced in relatively small quantities for bespoke repairs or thin cladding veneers, where strict visual and geometric requirements create very high wastage rates. This presents an opportunity for low-cost, low-carbon structures, if these can be designed and built around existing waste stone which exists in abundance as offcuts or backfill in mines and quarries across the country. This project will determine how waste stone structures should be designed to minimise cost and embodied carbon, by developing a detailed life cycle assessment of extraction, processing, transportation and construction processes. In collaboration with Format Engineers, this model will be integrated into the structural design of an innovative new stone bridge proposed for Bath, and shared as a model for a low carbon renaissance of this material.