Hydrogen technology company ULEMCo has announced the launch of HyConstruct, an industry wide collaborative R&D project aimed at reducing CO2 emissions from construction site heavy-duty off-highway equipment.
The company and its partners – GeoPura, Plantforce, BAM and BRE – will work to develop and demonstrate an advanced control system.
This will be used to increase the proportion of energy coming from hydrogen dual-fuel technology, and to accelerate the decarbonisation of the UK construction sector.
The year-long project, which began October 2025, is supported by funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) via its Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator 4 (ARMD4) programme.
HyConstruct will develop and demonstrate the control system designed to increase the hydrogen substitution rate in heavy machinery.
HyConstruct will also focus on applying advanced control algorithms and AI to the dual-fuel engine control system, that will increase the machine’s capability to use even more hydrogen.
This will enable hydrogen consumption to be boosted to a level where the scale of use on site further improves the business case for wholesale plant upgrades and be competitive to diesel supply costs.
The advanced control system will be validated on real-world plant at a working construction site managed by consortium partner BAM, including upgrading Kobelco excavators.
Hydrogen supply and logistics partner GeoPura will supply low-carbon hydrogen, off grid refuelling capability and zero emission power for the project via its HPU technology.
BRE will be responsible for learning capture and industry dissemination. The project will further test onsite refuelling and hydrogen supply options to ensure the whole-site feasibility of dual-fuel plant upgrades.
ULEMCo managing director, Amanda Lyne, said: “Decarbonising construction plant is essential to support the UK’s net-zero goals, particularly as new energy infrastructure and construction investment is planned to drive economic growth.
“Converting existing equipment to run on clean hydrogen points the way to saving the carbon from these machines now, as well as saving the embedded emissions from the actual construction phase itself.”
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