Award winning restoration concepts

Hanson UK picked up three awards at the Mineral Products Association’s Quarries and Nature 2015 event at the Royal Society in London.

The former Middleton Hall sand and gravel quarry on the Staffordshire/Warwickshire border beat out strong competition to win the coveted Cooper Heyman Cup for outstanding achievement in restoration. The 470-hectare site has been restored to a mix of after-use including sport and leisure, reed beds, woodland, pasture and fishing. The majority of the restored area is managed as a nature reserve by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) while a smaller section has been developed into a training ground for Aston Villa football club.

In the biodiversity category, the landscape scale award was won by a joint entry from Hanson and Aggregate Industries for work done at the neighbouring Batts Combe and Callow Rock quarries in the Mendip Hills. The biodiversity project near Cheddar in Somerset has created a prime example of nature connectivity through a combination of restoration and land management.

Hanson and Aggregate Industries have also worked together to introduce a grazing programme to deal with major scrub invasion within a jointly-owned site known as The Perch. The project has been supported by Somerset Wildlife Trust and Natural England, the government’s advisor for the natural environment, and won praise from the judges for the enthusiasm and collaboration of all parties involved.

Finally, Hanson was a joint recipient with four other companies of a special award for the industry’s contribution in helping to shape the Cotswold Water Park over some 50 years of extraction, restoration and after use.