Year
2023-2026Duration
3 yearsCost
£30 millionLocation
United KingdomProject achievements
Used engineering skill
Testing engineering solutions to decarbonise the local highway network
Environment benefitted
Reducing the impact of the highest greenhouse-gas-emitting sector
Solved the problem
Finding ways to design and maintain roads that are better for the planet
ADEPT Live Labs 2: Decarbonising Local Roads in the UK
ADEPT Live Labs 2 is a three-year, UK-wide programme that is testing new solutions to decarbonise the design, construction and maintenance of the local highway network.
It consists of seven projects based across the country, grouped by four interconnected themes:
- Corridor and place-based decarbonisation: reducing carbon emissions during the construction, operation and maintenance of the local highway network
- A UK centre of excellence for materials: testing and monitoring the leading ideas on how to decarbonise road materials
- A green carbon laboratory: looking at the carbon-negative management of grass verges
- A future lighting testbed: reducing the carbon emissions of street lighting, road signs, white lines and studs, and other elements of the visual environment
The £30 million scheme, funded by the Department for Transport, is ran by the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT).
The programme is overseen by an independent commissioning board, which includes the Department for Transport and other experts from across the public and private sectors.
It will run until 2026, with a five-year monitoring and evaluation period to follow.
Did you know …
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The UK spends over £4bn annually on maintaining, developing and improving local roads, generating an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of CO2e each year.
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Transport is the largest emitting sector, responsible for nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions.
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Live Labs 2 is not about vehicles or how the public choose to travel. It’s about how we can design and maintain roads and related infrastructure in ways which are better for the planet.
The Live Labs 2 projects
The seven projects are:
Devon County Council: A382 Carbon Negative Project
Reducing carbon on a new road construction scheme using changes in materials, design and processes.
The changes will apply to all parts of the project and use natural solutions as well as new innovations to alter how road schemes are delivered in the future.
East Riding of Yorkshire Council: Decarbonising Street Lighting
Investigating whether lighting is needed on A roads and bypass routes or if we can provide a low carbon and low-cost alternative that keeps drivers as safe or safer than street lighting does.
Liverpool City Council: Ecosystem of Things
Targeting the challenge of decarbonising highways delivery and road asset in complex city contexts, demonstrating that this benefits the local economy and people.
North Lanarkshire Council: UK Centre of Excellence for Decarbonising Roads – North Campus
This project aims to find, trial and select the lowest carbon material to use in every aspect of road maintenance.
It will create a database tool that local authorities across the country can use to reduce their carbon footprint.
South Gloucestershire Council and West Sussex County Council: Greenprint
This project explores transforming local council grass cuttings from waste to value, reducing carbon emissions, costs, and biodiversity loss.
Transport for West Midlands: UK Centre of Excellence for Decarbonising Roads – South Campus
Aiming to reduce carbon in materials used in local roads in the West Midlands and in North Lanarkshire.
Wessex Partnership: Net Zero Corridors
The project helps to make the roads in Somerset, Cornwall and Hampshire cleaner and better.
The goal is to create better roads, use resources wisely, and get local people involved, making life better for everyone.
In addition to the projects, Live Labs 2 launched the Industry Decarbonisation Pledge in March 2025.
It’s aimed at organisations, practitioners and delivery partners who have the ability to shape and influence the low carbon local highways of the future.
Those who have signed are demonstrating a commitment to champion the principles of the Live Labs 2 programme.
Building on the success of Live Labs 1
ADEPT Live Labs 2 was launched in 2023 following the success of the ADEPT SMART Places Live Labs programme (Live Labs 1).
Live Labs 1 was created to examine the opportunities and challenges facing the take up of digital technology across the local highway network.
It saw nine local authorities and their partners working across eight innovative projects in England.
They developed new SMART approaches across communications, materials, energy solutions, mobility and environment.
Live Labs 2 builds on this positive work to support the transition to net zero carbon local roads.
People who made it happen
- Neil Gibson, chair of the Live Labs Commissioning Board
- Hannah Bartram, ADEPT CEO
- Giles Perkins, programme director for Live Labs 2
- ADEPT presidents – this has included Mark Kemp, Anthony Payne, Ann Carruthers and Angela Jones
