FPS Establishes Industry-First Embodied Carbon Baseline for Specialist Foundations

The Federation of Piling Specialists (FPS) is pleased to announce it has completed the most extensive review of project-based embodied carbon emissions in its history, creating an industry-first baseline that provides the clearest picture to date of the carbon footprint associated with specialist foundation construction across the UK.

Drawing on detailed data from 63 projects undertaken during 2025, the review represents the widest-ranging assessment of embodied carbon emissions carried out by the Federation. It has been made possible through significant collaboration across the FPS membership, with contractors contributing detailed project information covering a broad range of piling and ground engineering techniques.

Assessment of the data has enabled the FPS to calculate that its members generated approximately 330,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e) on projects during 2025, associated with a combined turnover of £618 million.

This represents a significant first for the UK construction sector, establishing a credible baseline against which future performance and progress in reducing embodied carbon can be assessed.

Delivered through the FPS Sustainability Committee, with representatives drawn from across the Federation, the project goes considerably further than establishing an overall carbon figure. The comprehensive dataset has also enabled the FPS to review and update its existing embodied carbon benchmarks for key foundation installation techniques and to develop new ways of assessing and comparing carbon performance.

Stuart Norman, Chair of the Federation of Piling Specialists, said: “This review represents a major milestone for the Federation and demonstrates the commitment of our members to improving environmental performance through transparency and collaboration.

“By bringing together data from projects across the UK, we have been able to create the most accurate and comprehensive picture yet of embodied carbon emissions within our sector.

“The findings not only allow us to update long-standing benchmarks, but also provide, for the first time, a good understanding of the total embodied carbon footprint of FPS members and how that relates to business activity across different techniques.

“This new dataset gives us the evidence base needed to focus our efforts and to identify where they can have the greatest impact.”

Importantly, the assessment recognises that simply comparing the total carbon emissions of individual projects or techniques can provide only part of the picture. Foundation projects vary considerably in scale, ground conditions, design requirements and construction methodology, all of which can influence their embodied carbon.

To enable more meaningful comparisons, the FPS has therefore correlated carbon emissions against a number of different parameters. These include assessing carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per £1 million of turnover, per hour worked, and per cubic metre of concrete installed across the principal foundation installation techniques.

The additional metrics provide FPS members with new tools for understanding the relationship between carbon emissions and project activity, while also helping to identify trends and potential outliers within individual construction methods.

Over time, this greater level of insight should allow members to better understand where carbon is being generated, make more meaningful comparisons between similar activities and focus future carbon reduction initiatives in the areas where they are likely to have the greatest impact.

The FPS expects the new dataset and benchmarks to become an important reference point for future carbon measurement and reduction activity within the specialist foundations sector.

The 2025 baseline provides a foundation from which the Federation and its members can measure change and assess the impact of future developments in areas such as materials, design and construction methods.

With the initial baselining exercise now complete, the Federation's carbon reduction focus is turning towards sharing knowledge across the membership and encouraging further progress in the use of lower-carbon materials and construction approaches.

The objective is to use the evidence generated by the review to identify practical opportunities for reducing the embodied carbon associated with individual piling methods and construction practices, while continuing to improve the quality and consistency of carbon measurement across the sector.

The initiative reflects the FPS's wider approach of using industry collaboration, data and shared learning to support measurable improvements in specialist foundation construction.

For more information on the work of the Federation of Piling Specialists and its sustainability activities, visit: www.fps.org.uk.