Selecting concrete resources

Selecting concrete resources

The major factor defining the environmental impacts of concrete is the amount of cement in the product which depends on the concrete strength class (e.g. C25/30 in Europe). If you cannot find the exact product you are using, choose one that has the same strength class.

Please note that any concrete slab includes also reinforcement steel. The name of the concrete resource tells you if the reinforcement is included or has to be added separately.

Here's how to select the most suitable resource for the specific concrete element

Hollow-core concrete slabs: there are a lot of EPDs available and they can be added by the total area or volume of the element. Make sure you choose one with the correct thickness so that the amount of air in the element will be calculated correctly.

Concrete slabs: check that the amount of concrete is correct and if the element includes reinforcement. Make sure to include reinforcement separately if it's not included in the resource.

Sandwich elements and other wall elements: if you cannot find the exact product from the manufacturer, add concrete and insulation layers separately (check the above guidance for concrete).

Concrete strength classes:

Concrete type
Strength class
Generally used for:
C20 / GEN 3
20 Newton (mPa)/28 day strength
Foundations for large walls, garages,
houses & extensions
C25 / ST 2
25 Newton (mPa)/28 day strength
Footings, foundations and reinforced bases
for houses & extensions
C30 / PAV1 / ST 3
30 Newton (mPa)/28 day strength
Pavement construction, paving external kennels
and reinforced hard standings
C35 / PAV2
35 Newton (mPa)/28 day strength
Raft foundations, piling, external slabbing and pacing, and
reinforced bases for commercial buildings
C40
40 Newton (mPa)/28 day strength
Construction of structural and support beams
footings and foundations, roadworks

    • Related Articles

    • Average material quantities

      Average material quantities in typical structures You can refer to the table below for average material quantities in typical structures.   These estimations are recommended to use if: Your BIM model includes composite elements which consist of more ...
    • Selecting building technology resources

      Please note that the energy and water consumption are reported separately and the consumption also includes any impacts of technical choices. So this article is purely about modeling the material related impacts. Availability of building technology / ...
    • Material selection

      Making the best material choices It is important to understand that Life-Cycle Assessment is always an estimation based on the best available data you have at the time. When you’ll have more accurate information to do the calculations e.g. exact ...
    • Selecting metal resources

      Steel The environmental impacts depend on the steel grade used in concrete. Most often the steel in concrete is reinforcement steel. Stainless steel is usually used only if there is high exposure (for instance by weather) and high-tensile steel is ...
    • Finding EPDs

      One Click LCA includes several EPD databases (see the full list of included databases) and we have thousands of EPDs available. I have an EPD, but I am not sure if it’s in One Click LCA database If you need to find a specific EPD, please follow these ...