Elephant Park to switch from Diesel to Used Cooking Oil, in UK-wide Lendlease announcement

As part of a UK-wide phasing out of liquid fossil fuels such as diesel and petrol on any of Lendlease’s UK construction projects, we’re proud to announce that Elephant Park is set for a full conversion to alternative fuels such as Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil. The news is the latest in a series of moves that we at Elephant Park and Lendlease are passionate about making in order to tackle climate change.

Diesel, petrol, and gas to liquid (GTL), which are often used to power machinery onsite, as well as fuel gases such as liquid petroleum gas (LPG) typically used for heating, will be replaced by alternative fuels. Alternatives include Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), hydrogen fuel cells, renewables, and electrified plant when available.

Eliminating diesel from its construction business is a key milestone in Lendlease’s industry-leading Roadmap to Absolute Zero Carbon. Removing it entirely has the potential to have the same environmental impact as growing 16,500 trees from seedlings over 10 years, and our aim as a participating development is to arrive at having completely replaced diesel usage by January 1, 2022.

All the HVO alternative fuels will derive used cooking oil will be accepted, all with proof of Sustainability documentation in line with the new Alternative Fuels policy released on July 15. Each UK development will conform, contributing to Lendlease’s Global Mission Zero commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2025 and absolute zero by 2040.

HVO is a sustainable alternative to diesel as it reduces CO₂ emissions by up to 90%, compared with conventional diesel and can be used as a ‘drop in’ replacement. This means that HVO can be used in existing machinery without the need for engine modifications. This is in keeping with Lendlease’s commitment to source materials responsibly and sustainably and aims to maximise the sustainability credentials of all HVO used on Lendlease projects.

“Removing diesel and other liquid fossil fuels on our UK construction projects is a big step in the right direction for us at Lendlease,” says Simon Gorski, Lendlease Europe’s Managing Director of Construction.

“Our end goal is to eliminate fossil fuels entirely, so mandating that all projects transition to alternative, low carbon solutions like HVO is going to help us get there. It won’t be a small task, and it’ll take collaboration across the entire value chain to achieve. But we are committed to working with our clients, subcontractors, and suppliers to get there and tackle climate change, together.”

Although efforts to reduce the environmental impact of construction sites began some time ago, in 2020, Lendlease began its mission to eliminate fossil fuels from them entirely in a bid to tackle climate change. Backed by the global carbon targets to reach Net Zero Carbon by 2025, and Absolute Zero Carbon by 2040, Lendlease is accelerating its efforts to eliminate direct (Scope 1) emissions from burning fossil fuels across its UK construction projects. This began by trialling diesel replacements across a number of its UK construction projects, in partnership with its supply chain.

With extensive research and two successful already, the company is now taking its next bold step to forego diesel entirely, it’s time to start to forego diesel entirely.

Read all about Sustainability at Elephant Park here.

Read about Lendlease’s Mission Zero commitment here.