Tarmac’s low carbon TOPFLOW Screed A has been used at JQ Rise, a 24-storey luxury apartment development in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, helping to deliver significant carbon savings while supporting an efficient construction programme.

Located on Summer Hill Road, JQ Rise comprises 226 one, two and three-bedroom luxury apartments. The development required large volumes of floor screed across approximately 21,000m² of floor space, creating a need for a solution that could be delivered efficiently and pumped to multiple levels of the high-rise development.

The challenge

Efficiency and sustainability were key considerations for the project team, alongside minimising disruption to people living and working around the busy city centre site.

A number of structural components, façades and windows were manufactured offsite to help streamline construction, reduce onsite waste and shorten the overall project programme.

With a substantial floor area to complete across the 24-storey development, the chosen screed also needed to support efficient installation while contributing towards the project's sustainability objectives.

The solution

Tarmac's TOPFLOW Screed A was selected for the project. The low carbon, cement-free liquid floor screed can be placed quickly across large areas while delivering a high-quality finish.

TOPFLOW Screed A has an 80% lower carbon footprint than a conventional sand-cement screed. Mix additives are also available to enable the screed to be pumped efficiently to upper floors without the risk of segregation, making it particularly suited to tall building construction.

The screed can be supplied in mixes designed to provide high thermal conductivity for use alongside underfloor heating systems. Its ability to be installed at thinner depths can also help reduce floor loadings and space requirements within multi-storey developments.

Results and benefits

Approximately 1,000m³ of TOPFLOW Screed A was supplied to JQ Rise between Q4 2023 and Q1 2024, with average pours of around 50m³ at a time.

The screeding work was completed within the construction programme by UK Screeders, which had previously used TOPFLOW Screed A on other projects.

Compared with the equivalent volume of conventional sand-cement screed, Tarmac estimates that the solution saved more than 234 tonnes of CO₂e. When the thinner average installation depth is also taken into account, the estimated saving increases to 342 tonnes of CO₂e, representing an 85% lower carbon footprint.

The completed installation demonstrates how low carbon liquid screeds can combine programme efficiency and high-quality floor finishes with measurable reductions in embodied carbon on large-scale residential developments.

Read the full case study on the Tarmac website

Project details

• Project: JQ Rise
• Location: Summer Hill Road, Birmingham
• Client: JQ Rise
• Contractor: UK Screeders
• Application: Luxury apartments
• Product: Tarmac TOPFLOW Screed A
• Floor area: Approximately 21,000m²
• Screed supplied: Approximately 1,000m³
• Development: 24 storeys, comprising 226 apartments
• Completion: Q1 2024
• Estimated carbon saving: Up to 342 tonnes CO₂e / 85% lower carbon footprint