The new technique is the result of a three-year study by Lafarge Tarmac and the Carbon Trust.

The new ‘Low Temperature Asphalt’ bonds aggregates and bitumen at less than the current temperatures of 180°C – 190°C.

Martin Riley, Managing Director for Lafarge Tarmac’s Asphalt and Aggregates business, said: “This project with the Carbon Trust will help unlock barriers to bring lower temperature asphalt into wider use, cutting energy use, reducing CO2 emissions and enabling us to deliver projects more quickly for clients.

“It will take time for these materials to become available, but as producers follow our lead and adopt this technology, there will be a growing movement to embrace LTAs as direct replacements for conventional hot asphalts.”

If the new specification is adopted and low temperature asphalt market achieves 21% of the total UK asphalt market over the next decade, it could save £46.2m and around 260,000 tonnes of CO₂ during the manufacturing of these materials over the next 10 years.

Dr Nizar Ghazireh, the project director at Lafarge Tarmac, added: “This pioneering project and the development of the national specification for LTA will fundamentally change the asphalt industry in the UK, producing sustainable low carbon products.

“The developed specification will assist clients to procure these materials as standard products and that feedback from their use will inform the future development of the European Standards.”