The European Federation of Foundations Contractors (EFFC) has joined forces with the Deep Foundation Institute (DFI) to develop a carbon calculator for the foundations sector, which, according to Chris Harnan, chairman of the EFFC Contracts Working Group, will allow companies to provide clients with verifiable, reliable data about the carbon footprint of their foundation designs.

Writing in the Summer 2012 issue of European Foundations magazine, Harnan says that the calculator also will enable users to compare various design solutions. Work on the calculator started in March this year, and is being managed by a steering group formed by volunteers from DFI and EFFC, led by Bachy Soletanche's Marine Lasne.

Technical development of the calculator is being undertaken by Carbone 4, and aims to create a user-friendly, project-based system for 10 different foundation techniques, including the reuse of existing piles – an approach that is growing in popularity.

According to EFFC, the aim is to create a system by which member companies can compare their own designs – based on carbon production – and benchmark them against those of other companies, as well as provide clients with verifiable and standardized carbon data for the project.