Concretene, a Manchester DeepTech firm that uses sustainable, UK-sourced graphene to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete, has been named a winner of the sixth Water Breakthrough Challenge by Ofwat’s Water Innovation Fund.

The project, Splitting Biogas, Multiplying Value, is a collaboration led by United Utilities with partners Tarmac, graphene producer Levidian and specialist application firms Concretene (concrete admixtures), ULEMco (hydrogen economy) and Carbon Ion (battery tech).

Four other water companies, Anglian, South-West, Wessex, Yorkshire, are included in the project, with the total award amounting to £9.5 million; Concretene’s share of funding is £1m.
This is a key milestone for the company, which is led by construction sector veteran Mike Harrison.