The metals industry is a vital part of the UK economy directly contributing >£10bn to the UK GDP and employing thousands of people. In particular, as the only metal produced and consumed in volume in the UK, steel is a foundation industry underpinning the UK economy. The microstructure of a steel dictates its functional and structural properties, with thermal processing being a critical factor governing the microstructure. Therefore, the ability to measure changes in microstructure at high temperature is critical to researchers in this area and important concern for steel manufacturers and component producers. Our previous collaborative work led to commercial sensors such as EMspecTM, which is used to monitor transformation in the hot strip mill, where the strip above the sensor is at temperatures up to 800 degree C, but the sensor is kept at room temperature in a water cooled jacket. In this proposal, we will make the next big step: to realise a new suite of electromagnetic instrumentation for measuring the properties of metal samples and products dynamically during thermal processing, with THE SENSORS THEMSELVES operating in the high temperature environment. This will create a suite of lab tools fitting inside furnaces that have not been available before for characterising steel at high temperatures, complementary to current dilatometry and calorimetry, which measure volumetric and thermic changes. Some important microstructural changes such as those associated with small enthalpy and/or length changes (e.g. recovery and recrystallisation events, tempering of martensitic steels) could potentially be resolved where DSC and DSD are hard to resolve. Furthermore, the instrument can potentially become a new routinely used tool in full scale metal production, e.g., on continuous annealing production lines (CAPL) or batch annealing furnaces to enhance product quality control and energy efficient operation of these processes.

Decarbonising both heating and cooling across residential, business and industry sectors is fundamental to delivering the recently announced net-zero greenhouse gas emissions targets. Such a monumental change to this sector can only be delivered through the collective advancement of science, engineering and technology combined with prudent planning, demand management and effective policy. The aim of the proposed H+C Zero Network will be to facilitate this through funded workshops, conferences and secondments which in combination will enable researchers, technology developers, managers, policymakers and funders to come together to share their progress, new knowledge and experiences. It will also directly impact on this through a series of research funding calls which will offer seed funding to address key technical, economic, social, environmental and policy challenges. The proposed Network will focus on the following five themes which are essential for decarbonising heating and cooling effectively: Theme 1 Primary engineering technologies and systems for decarbonisation Theme 2 Underpinning technologies, materials, control, retrofit and infrastructure Theme 3 Future energy systems and economics Theme 4 Social impact and end users' perspectives Theme 5 Policy Support and leadership for the transition to net-zero

Steel buildings form the vast majority of multi-storey and industrial buildings in the UK. More than 85% of the structural steel in existing buildings is recycled at the end of their service life whereas less than 15% is reused. However, steel recycling is energy-demanding and contributes to the UK iron and steel industry being the largest industrial sector in terms of both energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, there is a genuine need for cutting-edge technical innovations embedded in the circular economy that maximizes sustainable, efficient and low-energy reuse, rather than energy-demanding recycling, of structural steel. RESTOR is the first project of its kind to apply sophisticated non-destructive testing (NDT), machine learning optimization, and building information modelling to reuse structural steel in construction. At the end of the first lifespan of used steel members (e.g., beams, columns, braces), RESTOR will allow their material properties to be determined based on NDT measurements. RESTOR will optimize the repurposing of used steel members and validate their structural performance during their second lifespan. It will develop a new, validated and optimized state-of-the-art generative design tool that will create automated and optimized building configurations made of used steel members. The outputs of RESTOR will therefore enable sustainable delivery of the infrastructure projects planned as part of the post-COVID-19 economic recovery strategy.

To counter significant levels of climate change and biodiversity loss, the UK and numerous other countries have set targets for "net-zero" greenhouse gas emissions. Rapid reductions in the built environment are crucial, since it drives 42% of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. To achieve net-zero carbon buildings, we must reduce both: 1. OPERATIONAL CARBON - the emissions caused by a building's operational use 2. EMBODIED CARBON - the emissions caused by 'everything else', such as the manufacturing of materials, transportation to site, onsite construction, refurbishment, and disposal. Given the huge amount of construction required for new build and retrofit around the world, it is critical that embodied carbon is addressed, while we continue to tackle operational carbon. Indeed, the UK Government's 'Industrial Strategy: Construction Sector Deal' aims to halve the greenhouse gas emissions from the built environment by 2025, and to shift focus from operational to whole-life performance. Since May 2019, over 1,000 architecture and engineering practices have committed to reducing both embodied and operational carbon (these are together referred to as whole-life carbon; WLC). The Royal Institute of British Architects has set WLC targets for 2030 and 2050 in its 'Climate Challenge', and the new London Plan will require all 'referable planning applications' to calculate and reduce WLC. However, there are persistent challenges to predicting embodied (and therefore whole-life) carbon, and thus minimising it in practice. In particular, uncertainty is typically ignored. At the levels of individual construction products and whole buildings, models are typically deterministic in nature, producing single-point estimates of WLC. In practice, it is then unclear how confident designers and engineers can be that one option will be lower-carbon than another. In other scientific disciplines, probabilistic approaches are more common, producing results with confidence intervals and using statistical significance tests when making comparisons. Such rigour is now essential for predicting the WLC of buildings, to ensure that low-carbon design intentions are achieved in reality. This research therefore aims to significantly improve the treatment of uncertainty when predicting the WLC of construction products and whole buildings. We will work with project partners across the supply-chain of low-carbon buildings, including product manufacturing, low-carbon policy, and the design of structures and buildings. At product level, we will improve the treatment and communication of uncertainty in Environmental Product Declarations. At building level, we will develop and test a probabilistic approach for predicting whole life carbon through the design process. To achieve impact, we will engage international initiatives and standards that will define industry practice into the future.

Historically, the discovery, development and application of metals have set the pace for the evolution of human civilisation, driven the way that people live, and shaped our modern societies. Today, metals are the backbone of the global manufacturing industry and the fuel for economic growth. In the UK, the metals industry comprises 11,100 companies, employs 230,000 people, directly contributes £10.7bn to the UK GDP, and indirectly supports a further 750,000 employees and underpins some £200bn of UK GDP. As a foundation industry, it underpins the competitive position of every industrial sector, including aerospace, automotive, construction, electronics, defence and general engineering. However, extraction and processing of metals are very energy intensive and cause severe environmental damage: the extraction of seven major metals (Fe, Al, Cu, Pb, Mn, Ni and Zn) accounts for 15% of the global primary energy demand and 12% of the global GHG emission. In addition, metals can in theory be recycled infinitely without degradation, saving enormous amounts of energy and CO2 emission. For instance, compared with the extraction route, recycling of steel saves 85% of energy, 86% GHG emission, 40% water consumption and 76% water pollution. Moreover, metals are closely associated with resource scarcity and supply security, and this is particularly true for the UK, which relies almost 100% on the import of metals. The grand challenge facing the entire world is decoupling economic growth from environmental damage, in which metals have a critical role to play. Our vision is full metal circulation, in which the global demand for metallic materials will be met by the circulation of secondary metals through reduce, reuse, remanufacture (including repair and cascade), recycling and recovery. Full metal circulation represents a paradigm shift for metallurgical science, manufacturing technology and the industrial landscape, and more importantly will change completely the way we use natural resources. Full metal circulation means no more mining, no more metal extraction, and no more primary metals. We will make the best use of the metals that we already have. We propose to establish an Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centre, CircularMetal, to accelerate the transition from the current largely take-make-waste linear economy to full metal circulation. Our ambition is to make the UK the first country to realise full metal circulation (at least for the high-volume metals) by 2050. This will form an integral part of the government's efforts to double resource productivity and realise Net Zero by 2050. We have assembled a truly interdisciplinary academic team with a wide range of academic expertise, and a strong industrial consortium involving the full metals supply chain with a high level of financial support. We will conduct macro-economic analysis of metal flow to identify circularity gaps in the metals industry and to develop pathways, policies and regulations to bridge them; we will develop circular product design principles, circular business models and circular supply chain strategies to facilitate the transition to full metal circulation; we will develop circular alloys and circular manufacturing technologies to enable the transition to full metal circulation; and we will engage actively with the wider academic and industrial communities, policy makers and the general public to deliver the widest possible impact of full metal circulation. The CircularMetal centre will provide the capability and pathways to eliminate the need for metal extraction, and the estimated accumulative economic contribution to the UK could be over £100bn in the next 10 years.