Novacem, the carbon negative cement company, today announced that Laing O’Rourke had joined its investment group as part of a £1.6 million round.

All three of Novacem's existing financial investors - Imperial Innovations, the London Technology Fund, and the Royal Society Enterprise Fund – also participated in the round. This follows the announcement by Imperial Innovations of its own £140 million fundraising in December 2010.

Novacem's carbon negative cement is based on magnesium oxide and offers the cement industry a scalable alternative to current carbon intensive production. No carbon emissions are released from the magnesium silicate raw material used, and overall more CO2 is absorbed than emitted during production. Novacem is currently working with a world-class eco-system of partners to accelerate deployment of its technology to market.


Novacem will use the £1.6 million raised to continue the development of its carbon negative cement and manufacturing process, and to expand its commercial activities in the run up to an expected Series-A financing.

Laing O'Rourke's participation in the investment round follows its successful earlier collaboration in a two year (2008-10) £1.5 million Technology Strategy Board project led by Novacem. The two companies are already planning further joint development activities.

Ray O'Rourke, Laing O'Rourke's Chairman and Chief Executive, said: "Clients are seeking increasingly more viable and sustainable construction solutions, and the industry can no longer drag its heels on this issue. At Laing O'Rourke we know our clients are looking to us to collaborate with the cement industry to overcome this challenge. Good progress has been made over the last ten years, but much more needs to be done. Although we recognise there is a limit to what is possible to improve the sustainability of conventional Portland cement, we are excited by the radical innovation being developed through our partnership with Novacem. I look forward to forging stronger working relationships with the company through this investment, and to delivering a viable carbon-negative Novacem product to use in our own projects."

(CD)