We need concrete solutions to save the UK cement industry. The chancellor can start the process

A few months ago, the concrete industry faced a stark reality: in August it was revealed that demand for ready-mix concrete had fallen to levels not seen since 1963 across the UK. The Mineral Products Association (MPA) announced that quarterly sales had plummeted by 11.5%, to just 2.7 million cubic metres during the second quarter of this year, the lowest volume recorded in more than six decades.

For a nation that once prided itself on “building everything, again and again”,  this slump is not just another dip in the cycle. It exposes deeper structural flaws in how we procure, incentivise and value the materials which literally hold Britain together.

>> Also read: 5 minutes with Liz Gilligan at Material Evolution

We have lost our edge as front-runners in innovation – but there is a visible window for revival. I believe the route forward is not about producing harder, but procuring smarter: aligning policy, procurement and innovation to cut costs, reduce carbon and rebuild domestic supply chains in one coordinated movement.

It is a complex puzzle, but one we can solve if we are willing to approach the problem differently. The pieces are all there: government ambition, industrial expertise and emerging low-carbon technology. What is missing is orchestration, a framework that connects them into a coherent picture.

The procurement gap ‘at the end of the tunnel’

The cracks in our current system are clear to anyone in the industry. The UK’s procurement frameworks, while well-intentioned, do little to accelerate the adoption of low-carbon materials.

Compare this with Denmark, where embodied-carbon thresholds are written into regulation, or France, which actively supports domestic material supply chains through policy, and the gap becomes obvious.

Here, sustainability still sits in the “optional” column. Contractors understandably revert to the cheapest approved material, rather than the lowest-carbon one.

If a low-carbon material cannot meet cost parity, it is often overlooked, regardless of long-term value

The data only reinforces this picture: UK cement production dropped to 7.3 million tonnes last year, around half of what it was in 1990, while lower-cost imports now account for 32% of the market. Our domestic manufacturing base is shrinking, and with it the industrial resilience which once underpinned our infrastructure.

Procurement reform alone will not reverse that trend, but it is where alignment with policy must start. While the government continues to pour funds into carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS), technology alone is not a silver bullet. Those subsidies will have the greatest impact when paired with strong demand for low-carbon cement. Policy and procurement need to work hand in hand.

Cost pressures and low demand

Overlay all of this with a collapsing market and the challenge deepens. With concrete volumes at six-decade lows, cost has become the overriding priority. The previous hierarchy of performance, carbon and cost has flipped.

Margins across construction have always been tight, but today they are razor-thin. If a low-carbon material cannot meet cost parity, it is often overlooked, regardless of long-term value. Major suppliers are now competing for one another’s clients, an unprecedented sign of market stress rather than innovation.

Innovation cannot thrive in isolation. Without procurement frameworks, incentives or demand signals, we risk watching the very companies developing greener solutions fall behind.

From risk and culture to trial and transformation in the ‘valley of death’

The industry culture is another knot to unravel. Construction remains a conservative industry, scarred by past failures and slow to trust new technologies. While some innovators push ahead, a much larger “middle majority” stays on the sidelines, waiting for proof instead of testing for progress.

Then again, this “valley of death” – the chasm between pilot success and commercial scale – can be crossed. Low-risk demonstration projects, supported by government or public sector procurement, generate data, build confidence and unlock adoption.

On the way there, however, the message around mobilisation needs a different tone, where failure in trial should never be seen as the same as failure outright. Contractors need support and guidance to experiment and that means procurement frameworks must allow space for trialling new approaches without fear of penalty.

While government reform is prerequisite, the private sector does not have to wait. By collaborating with specifiers and end customers, contractors can start closing the adoption gap by:

• Engaging early with UK innovators and domestic low-carbon suppliers during design phases.
• Using small or controlled sites to trial new materials and collect performance data.
• Specifying outcomes, such as carbon thresholds, rather than rigid product lists.
• Sharing results across the supply chain to fast-track confidence and uptake.

Procurement levers that matter

Governments hold the levers, and the autumn Budget is the time to pull them – aligning fiscal policy with innovation. Measures such as tax rebates, targeted subsidies and procurement-linked incentives could reward contractors who adopt verified low-carbon materials.

In addition, public sector projects should set clear embodied-carbon thresholds, and allocating work to UK manufacturers which meet environmental standards would anchor demand and reinforce the domestic supply base.

We can learn from the automotive and energy industries: both made bold decarbonisation plans, only to retreat under cost and investment pressures.

Investors need certainty where policy cannot be subject to five‑year electoral cycles. Procurement strategies and fiscal incentives must be baked into national industrial policy so that manufacturers can plan decades ahead rather than months.

High stakes

Large-scale projects, such as Sizewell C, currently nominate local contractors, which is welcome, but too often fall short of mandating low-carbon material specifics. Unless we tie procurement to substance, we risk another decade of imports and missed value.

The UK already imports more than 30% of its cement market, effectively exporting jobs, investment and emissions.

If we continue to prioritise lowest cost over local value, we risk cement plants closing – and restarting kilns is rarely feasible. At a time when infrastructure delivery is critical, the choice is stark: short-term savings or long-term resilience.

From Budget to blueprint

The UK construction industry stands at a crossroads. We can treat this slump as another cycle to weather, or we can use it to reconfigure how we build. Smarter procurement is certainly at the door: policy, innovation and industry aligning so that low‑carbon materials become the new default.

Sustainability is not a luxury, but a competitive advantage. With aligned frameworks, fiscal incentives and early-adoption platforms, the next wave of British construction could also be its cleanest.

The upcoming Budget is the bridge to make us think about these procurement frameworks, tax incentives and pilot project funding. If we act decisively, low-carbon, UK-made building materials have a standing platform to move from niche to norm.

Dr Liz Gilligan is the CEO and co-founder of Material Evolution