Colin Hills is Professor of Environment and Materials Engineering and Director of the Centre for Contaminated Land Remediation at University of Greenwich. Professor Hills studied Geology (BSc) and Industrial Petrology (MSc) at Queen Mary College, London. His PhD (Imperial College) in environmental engineering followed a period working as a field geologist in the Middle East and West Africa (Stanger, Intersite, Nigeria Dredging and Marine), and in process technology and engineering for Redland (now Lafarge). Professor Hills joined the University of Greenwich as a Senior Research Fellow in 1998, and was appointed Reader in 2002.
He has been actively involved in research and development of stabilisation/solidification (s/s) systems for more than 25 years. His work includes national guidance on s/s of contaminated soil for the Environment Agency (England and Wales), and the development of novel s/s systems. He has received a number of national prizes, including the IChemE Green Chemical Technology Award, the national Shell Springboard prize, and the Times HE Award for his outstanding contribution to Innovation and Technology.
Professor Hills’ work on the beneficial re-use of waste CO2 gas in the treatment (by carbonation) of contaminated soil and waste has resulted in the first commercial production of artificial aggregates. The aggregates were awarded the UK’s Best Recycled Product for 2013, and are used in the world’s first ever carbon negative building block, manufactured by Ligancite in Suffolk.
Professor Hills is a Founder Director of both Carbon8 Systems and Carbon8 Aggregates, spin-out companies of the University of Greenwich.