IN Brief:
- Galliford Try is using green hydrogen to power a National Highways construction compound in Bootle.
- The system is supporting site offices, welfare facilities, a drying room, kitchen, and EV charging points.
- The pilot forms part of the £7m A5036 Dunnings Bridge Road and Park Lane pedestrian crossing project.
National Highways is using green hydrogen to power a construction compound in Bootle, with Galliford Try trialling a hydrogen fuel-cell generator on the £7m A5036 Dunnings Bridge Road and Park Lane pedestrian crossing scheme.
The system is powering three site offices, toilets, a kitchen, a drying room, and two electric vehicle charging points. The project is delivering new pedestrian crossings at the A5036 Dunnings Bridge Road and Park Lane crossroads at Netherton, with completion due in June.
Rather than relying on grid connection or diesel generators, the project compound is being powered through a hydrogen system intended to reduce emissions from temporary site operations. Duncan Smith, chief operating officer at National Highways, said the organisation is committed to decarbonising the way it operates, maintains, repairs, and improves roads, with supply-chain partners expected to support those goals.
Temporary site power often receives less attention than major plant, permanent materials, or design-stage carbon reduction. Yet compounds, cabins, lighting, welfare units, charging points, and drying facilities can create a steady diesel load, particularly on infrastructure schemes where grid access is limited, delayed, or uneconomic.
The Bootle trial sits within a growing set of low-carbon site-power demonstrations. Hydrogen hub testing at Tilbury has already shown how infrastructure projects are beginning to examine alternatives to conventional diesel generation, particularly where site demand is high and grid capacity is constrained.
Hydrogen fuel-cell systems will not replace diesel generators across every project. Fuel availability, storage, safety management, cost, logistics, and demand profile all affect whether the technology is practical. The more relevant question is where hydrogen can work reliably: off-grid compounds, remote infrastructure sites, temporary high-load locations, and projects operating under strict air-quality or noise constraints.
Construction teams will judge the technology by site performance rather than principle. The compound has to remain powered, welfare facilities must function, charging must be dependable, and refuelling cannot create an excessive operational burden. Maintenance, safety procedures, monitoring, and fuel deliveries all need to fit within normal site management routines.
The economics remain sensitive. Diesel generators are familiar, widely available, and easy to deploy at short notice. Hydrogen systems need greater rental-market availability, repeat use, fuel infrastructure, and transparent cost data before they become routine on everyday sites.
Client carbon requirements are nevertheless moving faster than some parts of the site-power market. Public-sector infrastructure clients are increasingly asking contractors to show how they will reduce emissions during delivery, not just in the completed asset. Temporary power is one of the more controllable parts of that equation.
National Highways faces a wider challenge in cutting construction and maintenance emissions across a road network that depends heavily on carbon-intensive materials, plant, logistics, and temporary works. Hydrogen site power will not address all of those sources, but it can reduce diesel use in one recurring part of project setup.
The Bootle scheme gives the technology a useful test in ordinary working conditions. If the compound can operate reliably without compromising welfare, programme, or safety, hydrogen will have a stronger case for wider deployment on infrastructure sites where diesel still fills the gap between demand and grid access.
