How sustainability shapes what we build in Australia
From landmark infrastructure to community buildings, Holcim Australia is delivering low-carbon and circular building solutions across some of the country's most significant projects, with no compromise on strength, finish or reliability.
Across Australia, sustainability runs through every part of how we work, from the mixes we design to the way we run our plants and move our fleet. As the country builds towards net zero by 2050, demand for lower-carbon, more circular construction is growing, and we are meeting it with solutions that perform at the highest level across infrastructure, industry and buildings.
This is NextGen Growth 2030 in practice: an end-to-end offering where sustainability drives both performance and progress.
Low-carbon concrete, delivered at scale
ECOPact, our low-carbon concrete range, delivers a minimum 30% reduction in embodied carbon with no compromise on strength or finish. It is now specified on many of Australia's largest builds and already represents 36% of our ready-mix net sales here.
In Victoria, we supplied more than 600,000m³ of low-carbon concrete to the Melbourne Metro Tunnel, including a world-first use of recycled crushed glass to replace up to 25% of virgin natural sand in structural-grade concrete. We are now supplying ECOPact to the North East Link, Victoria's largest ever road project. In New South Wales, ECOPact has been specified across multiple packages of the Sydney Metro, including station boxes, terminals and tunnelling.
The Melbourne Metro Tunnel required 600,000m³ of low-carbon concrete across 45 specialised mixes, including a world-first use of recycled crushed glass in structural-grade concrete at State Library Station.
Holcim supplied 100% recycled aggregates to the Kidston Pumped Hydro project in Queensland, including across the surface works and the 2km underground pumphouse access tunnel, in continuous supply since 2018.
Circular construction, building cities from cities
Through ECOCycle, our circular construction technology, we turn construction and demolition material into new, high-quality building products. Solutions with ECOCycle inside, across both concrete and aggregates, contain from 10% to 100% recycled content, independently verified to ISO 14021, with no compromise on quality or performance.
In Queensland, we have supplied the Kidston Pumped Hydro project with 100% recycled aggregates across the surface works and the 2km underground pumphouse access tunnel, in continuous supply since 2018.
Investing in lower-carbon precast: the Humes Blacktown plant
Our new Humes precast facility at Blacktown in Western Sydney shows how we are building lower carbon into manufacturing itself. The purpose-built, highly automated plant has shifted production from spun pipe to drycast technology, which reduces embodied carbon per tonne while delivering the strength and durability infrastructure customers rely on.
The process is designed to make greater use of manufactured sand, recycled aggregates and supplementary cementitious materials, reducing reliance on primary materials and advancing our commitment to circular construction. From Blacktown, the facility supplies precast concrete pipes and products to customers across New South Wales, supporting the state's water, drainage and infrastructure programs.
The new drycast production process at Humes Blacktown reduces embodied carbon per tonne compared to traditional spun pipe manufacturing, while enabling greater use of manufactured sand, recycled aggregates and supplementary cementitious materials.
Humes FutureCast® precast box culverts and concrete pipes, manufactured with up to 30% fly-ash replacement, support the Canberra Light Rail Stage 2A stormwater upgrade engineered for a 1-in-100-year flood event.
Integrated low-carbon delivery: Canberra Light Rail Stage 2A
Canberra Light Rail Stage 2A shows our concrete and precast capabilities working together on a single project. We are supplying the ready-mix concrete for the new track alignment and supporting structures, while Humes is contributing FutureCast® box culverts and concrete pipes manufactured with up to 30% fly-ash replacement to lower embodied carbon.
The result is an integrated solution supporting Canberra Metro's goal of cutting Scope 3 emissions by 25%, alongside a stormwater upgrade engineered for a 1-in-100-year flood event.
High performance for signature buildings
Our highest-performance concretes carry the same sustainability focus. For Melbourne's Australia 108, the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, we supplied more than 45,000m³ of concrete, including over 8,000m³ of high-strength DYNAMax for the core and structural columns from level 67 upwards. Where finish matters, our Geostone decorative concrete brings design and sustainability together, as seen at the Biyal-a Armstrong Creek Library and community hub, delivered with ECOPact and Geostone.
The Biyal-a Armstrong Creek Library and community hub was delivered using ECOPact low-carbon concrete and Geostone decorative concrete, demonstrating that sustainable construction and design quality go hand in hand.
Holcim Australia trialled the country's first road-registered 100% electric concrete truck mixer in partnership with Putzmeister Oceania, as part of a broader programme to decarbonise its fleet and reduce emissions across operations.
Lower-carbon operations and fleet
Our sustainable capability extends to how we produce and deliver. In 2025, our Byron Bay concrete plant switched to 100% renewable energy, eliminating all Scope 2 CO₂ emissions from the site.
We are deploying renewable-powered hybrid mobile plants to supply remote projects, and decarbonising our fleet, from Australia's first road-registered 100% electric concrete truck mixer, trialled with Putzmeister Oceania, to hybrid hydrogen quarry trucks.
Find out more about ECOCycle®
Learn how ECOCycle® brings verified circular construction to your next project.
