The Quest for Concrete’s Cure
Responding to the UK’s target of reducing carbon emissions by 81% by 2035, this project reimagines Greater Manchester’s tram network as a catalyst for sustainable logistics, regional material sourcing, and community-led production.
Extending beyond commuter transport, the proposal connects emerging growth areas including Stockport and Bolton while supporting Manchester’s ambition to become carbon neutral by 2038.
Set within Ardwick and along the Mancunian Way, the scheme speculates on new grassroots industries formed around tram expansion and highway conversion. Demolished infrastructure and construction waste are recycled into aggregate for precast concrete production, establishing a locally operated factory embedded within an expanded public landscape.
The tram network supplies captured atmospheric carbon dioxide to carbonation chambers, where precast elements are cured, permanently storing carbon while improving material strength and reducing curing times.
Functioning simultaneously as infrastructure, industry, and parkland, the masterplan positions the factory as a symbolic carbon-sequestering tree within the urban environment supporting resilient economies and collective environmental stewardship across future neighbourhoods.
