Carbon Capture Construction Begins at Heidelberg’s Padeswood Plant in Wales

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Worley have begun building the UK’s first full-scale carbon capture facility at Heidelberg Materials’ Padeswood cement plant in Wales. The project will capture 800,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually for storage under Liverpool Bay.

TOKYO (P&GJ) — Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and engineering firm Worley have entered the construction phase of the Padeswood Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project in Flintshire, North Wales — the first full-scale carbon capture facility in the UK’s cement sector.

The project, developed with Heidelberg Materials, will use MHI’s Advanced KM CDR Process™ technology to capture about 800,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year from cement production. The captured CO₂ will be transported via pipeline for permanent storage in depleted gas fields under Liverpool Bay as part of the HyNet North West cluster.

The move follows Heidelberg Materials’ final investment decision in September 2025, made in collaboration with the UK Government under Track-1 of its CCUS cluster program. The facility is expected to be operational in 2029.

Under the agreement, MHI and its regional arm MHI-EMEA will provide the engineering and procurement for CO₂ capture and compression equipment. Worley will handle engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) for the balance of plant.

“We are proud to support Heidelberg Materials in realizing the UK's first full-scale carbon capture facility in the cement sector,” said Tatsuto Nagayasu, Senior Vice President of Green Transformation Solutions at MHI. “This project will play a leading role in decarbonizing one of the most challenging industrial sectors.”

Heidelberg Materials UK CEO Simon Willis called it “the next major milestone” in developing the UK’s first carbon capture facility at a cement works, while Worley CEO Chris Ashton described it as “a landmark for industrial decarbonization in the UK and Europe.”

The CCS project is expected to create around 50 permanent jobs and support up to 500 during construction, while securing 200 existing positions at the site. Once completed, the facility will produce Heidelberg’s evoZero near-zero-carbon cement, setting a precedent for large-scale carbon management infrastructure across the UK.