Queen's University Belfast and Fox Building and Engineering Limited KTP 24_25 R3

A construction company is learning to measure every tonne of carbon emitted across its entire operation, from the concrete in a foundation to the fuel in a site van. The construction sector is a major source of greenhouse gases, but most firms lack the in-house expertise to track their full carbon footprint—known as whole-life carbon emissions—across both their own operations and the projects they build for clients. This project embeds a specialist researcher within Fox Building and Engineering Limited to develop that internal capability. The company will create standardised methods for measuring emissions, establish a lower-carbon supply chain with verifiable metrics, and use that data to help clients meet their net-zero targets. If successful, the company will be able to offer clients reliable carbon accounting alongside traditional construction services. This could shift how building projects are specified and procured, embedding carbon reduction into routine decisions about materials, transport, and on-site energy use. The work is applied and commercial in nature, focused on building practical expertise within a single firm rather than generating new fundamental science.