It is the contractor’s second big investment in Novacem, which plans to produce a commercially available cement that absorbs carbon.

The so-called negative carbon cement is based on magnesium oxide and will give the concrete industry a scalable alternative to current carbon intensive production.

For every tonne of Portland cement replaced by Novacem cement, around 1 tonne of CO2 is captured and stored indefinitely.

Ray O’Rourke, Laing O’Rourke’s Chairman, said “Clients are seeking increasingly more viable and sustainable construction solutions, and the industry can no longer drag its heels on this issue.

“Good progress has been made over the last ten years, but much more needs to be done.

He added: “Although we recognise there is a limit to what is possible to improve the sustainability of conventional Portland cement, we are excited by the radical innovation being developed through our partnership with Novacem.

“I look forward to forging stronger working relationships with the company through this investment, and to delivering a viable carbon-negative Novacem product to use in our own projects,” added O’Rourke.

Novacem’s revolutionary cement binder uses a different chemistry and a new lower temperature manufacturing process, reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

The resulting cement hardens by absorbing large amounts of carbon dioxide effectively locking the greenhouse gas into construction materials.