In total, 17 transport operators have received close to 70 million of the Green Platform for the project “Sustainable value chain and material use in road construction”. Over the next three years, at least ten large pilots will be rolled out with new and more sustainable materials and solutions.

“The Green Platform project together with New Roads is a unique opportunity where we get to test and pilot together with other players in the industry,” says Espen Lea. He is the CEO of Saferock, one of the innovation companies in the project “Sustainable value chain and material use in road construction”.

“When the government put on the table in 2022 NOK 1 billion to support the Green Platform scheme as a response to the EU's Green Deal, we saw a great opportunity,” says Helen Roth, CEO of VIA and head of the project. Together with 16 partners in a consortium covering the value chain from infrastructure owners and builders to contractors, research institutes and suppliers, Nye Veier has been granted almost NOK 70 million to pilot the use of cutting-edge technology and materials that will contribute to major cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in Norwegian and European road construction.

“We are very proud of the award from the Green Platform. It is a very important project that we have now received funding to get started,” says Roth.

State offloads risk

The Green Platform is a major national programme and an important instrument that will contribute to a green transition towards a climate-neutral society in 2050. The investment is large in construction, transport and infrastructure — the heavy drivers of climate policy.

“You can apply for support for large projects with a total budget of up to NOK 150 million, where the state steps in and relieves the risk during the critical phase for innovation,” Roth says.

According to Espen Lea, risk mitigation is a trigger for Saferock to reach an international market. The product is a geopolymer concrete that utilizes by-products of the mining industry to reduce CO_{! 2}-the emissions by over 70 percent compared to conventional concrete.

“With the support of the Green Platform, we can pilot at home in Norway, and then we go beyond borders with the product,” says Lea.

Started as a loose idea

The very idea that led to the project “Sustainable value chain and material use in road construction” emerged in a meeting at Nye Veier in the summer of 2019. Through targeted work in the cluster, would it be possible to trigger funds for one large-scale innovation project, where industry players received support to develop new green solutions that would then be piloted in Nye Veier's development projects?

“We included this as the strategic focus area “Milljøveien” when we applied for support from Innovation Norway's cluster programme in autumn 2019. The application was granted and this has enabled us as a cluster over time and in cooperation with Nye Veier and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration to work purposefully to develop the concept and mobilize partners to participate in the Green Platform application that we submitted in autumn 2022,” says Roth.

Large-scale piloting

This model of collaboration that has been developed by the cluster has been very successful, and the project received the highest attainable scores of the three subject matter experts who assessed the application.

“Through this project, we have set the framework for a binding collaboration between some of the best academic communities in the country: NTNU, SINTEF and the University of Agder, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration with the Norwegian Directorate of Roads, New Roads and future companies,” says Roth.

She mentions some of the pilot projects planned in the project period up to 2025:

● RoXBox — prefabricated technical rooms to tunnel, made from recycled cell glass

● Saferock — carbon neutral geopolymer concrete, made from by-products of mining

● Environmentally friendly asphalt pavers based on reusable materials and alternative materials

Roth describes the possibility of risk mitigation as one of the most important prerequisites for realizing cutting-edge technologies in the environmental field. But in order to get into position, excitement and a functioning network have to be created, something the cluster has contributed to.

“The timing of the Green Platform project was very good. The need to develop alternative green solutions is great, but the risks associated with piloting have so far been too high — especially for the smaller industrial players. With the support of the Green Platform, we now have a unique opportunity to test new collaboration models and a form of risk sharing through large-scale piloting,” says Roth.

Enthusiasm in the industry

The project owner for “Sustainable value chain and material use in road construction” is Nye Veier, by Anne Stine Johnson, Head of Technology and Science. She believes this project manages to create something greater than the sum of each individual actor and each innovation.

“The Green Platform project is a good example of how we want to work in the years to come. In our view, this cooperation is unique in the Norwegian construction industry. If we manage this together, the entire industry will take a big step in the right direction in the climate field.

Jon Arne Rasmussen's Green Platform at Innovation Norway Agder points to the potential for exporting innovative environmental solutions from Norway to the rest of Europe:

“We need a boost in the construction industry, and you have a chance to change the way we build roads, and also to spread the solutions beyond Norway's borders. If there is anyone who is going to pull this off, then it has to be this project. We are looking forward to following the project,” Rasmussen said at the opening of the Green Platform project at Gardermoen earlier this year.

Facts: The consortium behind “Sustainable value chain and material use in road construction”

Project Manager: VIA V/Helen Roth
Project owner: New Roads v. Anne Stine Johnson
Builders: New Roads and the State Road Administration.
Industry partners: Bertelsen & Garpestad, ErametNorway, Foamrox, Future Materials Catapult Center, Roxel Infra, Rygene-Smith& Thommesen, Saferock, Veidekke Industri, Velde Industri, Norconsult AS and Skanska Norway.
Research partners: NTNU, SINTEF and the University of Agder.
Financing: Green Platform (68,5 MNOK) v Research Council, Innovation Norway and Siva.