A Showcase Event
The Quarry Products Association’s annual Restoration Awards
Earlier this year over 400 MPs, civil servants, senior industry representatives and environmentalists gathered in London to hear the results of the Quarry Products Association’s 32nd annual Restoration Awards Scheme, which rewards excellence in quarry restoration and after-use. The presentations were made at a high-profile showcase event hosted by BBC newscaster and journalist, George Alagiah.
This year there were 11 shortlisted finalists, each hoping to receive the industry’s supreme environmental award, the Cooper-Heyman Cup, or an award in one of the other two categories: a QPA Restoration Award with Special Merit or a QPA Restoration Award.
The presentations were made by Nigel Griffiths MP, Government Minister for Small Business, who began by paying tribute to the quarrying industry’s achievements in helping the nation to meet its construction goals over the last five years, as well as its role in the conservation of Britain. ‘With members from the Lizard in the South to Shetland in the North, there is no one in Parliament who does not realize the contribution you make,’ he said.
Four of the 11 finalists in the 2001/2002 scheme received a Restoration Award with Special Merit, while the coveted Cooper-Heyman Cup went to Essex-based Alresford Sand & Ballast Co. Ltd for their outstanding restoration of Villa Farm Quarry.
Details of all 11 award-winning restoration schemes are presented here.
Cooper-Heyman Cup
Villa Farm Quarry, Essex
This once busy sand and gravel site has been transformed into a tranquil and beautiful nature haven, which has already won wide acclaim.
The original objective, as set out in the planning permission, was simply to restore the land to ‘quiet’ after-use with a strong bias towards nature conservation. The current nature conservation area totals just under 4.5ha and comprises a large lake bordered by meadow and heathland. Work started in 1993 and ended in 1996, with the initial phase of restoration completed in early 1998.
In creating the lake area, particular care was taken over water levels and the construction of islands with gently sloping edges and shingle areas for nesting terns. A long and irregular shoreline was created around the lake to suit the feeding needs of water-fowl, while shallower areas were planned away from the edges to provide shelter. Some 65 bird species have been recorded at the site during monitoring surveys.
Significant thought was also given to improving and protecting the site’s biodiversity, and an action plan has been drawn up to ensure that the correct natural balance of the whole conservation area is maintained.
Alresford Sand & Ballast’s close relationship with the local residents’ group has also earned particular praise from Essex County Council, which has also recognized the quality of the overall operation at Villa Farm through four consecutive gold awards in its own mineral working environmental-management scheme.
However, the restoration of Villa Farm Quarry is by no means finished – plans are in place to enlarge the area when quarrying is completed at a nearby Alresford Sand & Ballast site. With restoration of the overall site continuing in phases, Villa Farm will ultimately consist of a series of conservation lakes surrounded by meadow and heathland, together with a large area of newly planted woodland.
Commenting on their achievements so far, Peter Orrock, managing director of Alresford Sand & Ballast, said: ‘We are delighted to have achieved a superb example of conservation, amenity and biodiversity, while being able to supply the local construction market with essential aggregates.’
Awards with Special Merit
Aymestrey Quarry, Herefordshire
This 46ha former sand and gravel quarry has been restored into a carefully blended mix of agriculture and woodland within an area designated as being of Great Landscape Value. The site was quarried by a number of small operators from 1952 until the late 1960s, when it was bought by Hanson Aggregates. Quarrying finally ended in 1990, by which time restoration was well advanced with the final objective of blending the worked areas back into the wider landscape.
Crucial to this aim was the way in which soils were handled prior to extraction. Topsoil, subsoil and overburden were stripped and stored separately before being replaced. Similar attention to detail meant that new trees and shrubs were planted with compost incorporated into the backfill.
A five-year aftercare programme which followed included drainage inspections, soil analysis, weed control and grazing management. The end result is some 24ha of pasture, more than 18,000 new trees, over 700m of new hedges and several ponds, all created leaving no evidence that quarrying has ever taken place.
Brandon Nature Reserve, Warwickshire
This former Lafarge Aggregates sand and gravel quarry has been transformed into an 80ha nature centre of major ecological significance. The site was worked for some 20 years from 1970 and was progressively restored to an initial stage of completion by the late 1980s, but has been continually enhanced ever since.
The restoration of the quarry lakes and silt pond provided the framework for the nature reserve, and a former farmhouse on the site was leased to Warwickshire Wildlife Trust as offices. These have been extended and developed with grant aid and support from Lafarge Aggregates through the landfill tax credit scheme.
The buildings include the Lafarge lecture theatre and classroom, together with an interpretive centre featuring touch-screen interactive displays, and a restaurant. Outdoors, the site features seven lakes, six bird hides, dragonfly ponds and a sensory garden.
Sir David Attenborough formally opened the reserve in 1999 and the site is now visited by some 50,000 people every year, including many schoolchildren.
Cassington Quarry, Oxfordshire
Hanson Aggregates received an award with special merit for their restoration of 15ha of their 121ha Cassington Quarry sand and gravel site. Prior to quarrying the area was intensively farmed but was divided by a network of hedges, ditches and tracks, many of which have remained intact as the framework for today’s restoration.
The after-use concept for Cassington Quarry involves a balance between nature conservation and longer-term commercial recreation, such as sailing, windsurfing and fishing, on the remaining areas.
The lake margins at Cassington have been improved with both shallow and deeper areas, bays and promontories. The work also included the creation of two shingle-covered islands. The planting and aftercare programme was equally rigorous, drawing on expertise developed at other Hanson sites. More than 9,000 trees have been planted and are flourishing, many of them planted directly into silt in a former settlement pond.
The result is the transforma-tion of an intensively farmed area to a lake, grassland and shrubby woodland of significant biodiversity value and visual landscape interest. A total of 116 species of birds have been recorded since the site opened.
Dinmor Parc Quarry, Isle of Anglesey
The origins of this 15ha quarry date back to the 1800s when it was established to meet the local needs of the island. An extension, including new sea-loading facilities, was granted in 1967 in recognition of the need for stone for the Seaforth development at Liverpool docks. Quarrying finally ended in at Dinmor in the early 1980s, but with its redundant structures, stockpiles, quarry floor and faces all visible from the sea, the site stood out as a blot on a coastline designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Lafarge Aggregates became responsible for the site through a series of business acquisitions and, although under no obligation to carry out rehabilitation work at the site, in consultation with the landowner, they agreed that a restoration scheme was needed. The old ship-loading facilities and pier were demolished, old quarry structures were removed, old working faces were treated to make them safe and more natural looking, and the quarry floor was re-graded with fine stone to provide a suitable surface for vegetation cover.
The regeneration of Dinmor Parc did not end there however, as the restoration work has also made it possible for a successful, state-of-the-art fish farm to be established on the site.
Restoration Awards
Beckford Quarry, Worcestershire
The progressive restoration of Huntsmans Quarries’ Beckford Quarry has resulted in the creation of a small nature reserve on the edge of a picturesque village. The site was worked for sand between 1981 and 1987, so forming the basis for today’s lake. Although small in size (just 3ha), the reserve represents one of the largest semi-natural habitats in an intensively farmed area and supports a wide diversity of species including 88 different varieties of flora, 40 birds, 13 insects and nine types of butterfly. Habitats range from open water to grassland and woodland. Quarrying at the site has also left a rare geological exposure that has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Berkswell Quarry, Solihull
RMC Aggregates’ restoration of 22ha of Berkswell Quarry has created the Marsh Lane Nature Reserve. The restored area was quarried between 1994 and 1999 and restoration was completed in 2001. The restoration plan involved creating two lakes with a variety of different habitats. The open water is of varying depth to suit a variety of plants, fish and birds, and the shallower areas are important to resident and wintering wildfowl. Islands provide predator-free nesting and roosting areas for species such as terns, oystercatchers and the little ringed plover, while reed beds have been established in one corner for breeding birds such as reed and sedge warblers. Four bird hides have been built, all with wheelchair access.
Brookhouse Farm Quarry, Cheshire
This former WBB Minerals sand quarry has been returned mainly to agriculture but with an attractive lake occupying one corner. The working plan involved stripping soil from half the site and storing it in a 3m high mound, to provide screening. As the sand face progressed across the site, the working area was progressively restored using the stored soil, with more soil then being removed in stages from the remainder. During its statutory five-year aftercare period good-quality arable crops, cereals and potatoes were successfully grown on the land. In addition, new woodland areas have been designed to merge with existing copses, while the lake has been managed to achieve its full nature conservation potential while also providing fishing and acting as a standby irrigation reservoir.
Greenham Common, Berkshire
When the American air force left Greenham Common at the end of the Cold War, West Berkshire Council resumed control of the base and plans were developed to return it to its origins as ‘common’ land. But after the runway was broken up and recycled the land was still far from ideal to recreate a sensitive acidic heathland habitat. The answer lay in removing the overlying gravel and re-profiling the underlying layer to create a range of micro-habitats. The project was assigned to Tarmac Southern who removed 1 million tonnes of sand and gravel over a 12-month period for processing at a neighbouring quarry. With the acidic sub-strata exposed, the job of re-colonizing the site with heather and other plant species has now been passed back to West Berkshire Council.
Marston’s Pit, Suffolk
Situated in the Breckland region of Suffolk, the restored area of Allen Newport Ltd’s Marston’s Pit covers 26ha and is part of a larger ongoing quarry totalling 117ha. Most of the area now covered by the quarry was shown as heathland on early maps but this had been converted to farmland and a military airfield by the 1950s. It was worked for sand and gravel from 1969 to 1983 and was restored progressively until 1995. After being farmed for a variety of crops until 1999, the whole area was allowed to naturally regenerate the short acid grassland habitat that is typical of the ‘Brecks’. The restored quarry now supports one of the highest densities of the rare stone curlew and is also a popular grazing habitat for roe and muntjak deer.
Mountcastle Quarry, Fife
Hanson Aggregates have restored an initial 14.5ha of their 76ha Mountcastle Quarry to nature conservation. The quarry, which has planning permission until 2009, is set in an open agricultural landscape with arable, grazing and forestry uses. To date, more than 9,000 native trees and shrubs have been planted, creating a variety of habitats ranging from broadleaf woodland to wetland margins. The long-term plan is to create a new landscape that includes a 25ha water area together with new woodlands connecting to existing plantations. A substantial area of the site will be devoted to nature conservation and recreation, with woodland walks, car parking, picnic areas and facilities for fishing and birdwatching.
Earlier this year over 400 MPs, civil servants, senior industry representatives and environmentalists gathered in London to hear the results of the Quarry Products Association’s 32nd annual Restoration Awards Scheme, which rewards excellence in quarry restoration and after-use. The presentations were made at a high-profile showcase event hosted by BBC newscaster and journalist, George Alagiah.
This year there were 11 shortlisted finalists, each hoping to receive the industry’s supreme environmental award, the Cooper-Heyman Cup, or an award in one of the other two categories: a QPA Restoration Award with Special Merit or a QPA Restoration Award.
The presentations were made by Nigel Griffiths MP, Government Minister for Small Business, who began by paying tribute to the quarrying industry’s achievements in helping the nation to meet its construction goals over the last five years, as well as its role in the conservation of Britain. ‘With members from the Lizard in the South to Shetland in the North, there is no one in Parliament who does not realize the contribution you make,’ he said.
Four of the 11 finalists in the 2001/2002 scheme received a Restoration Award with Special Merit, while the coveted Cooper-Heyman Cup went to Essex-based Alresford Sand & Ballast Co. Ltd for their outstanding restoration of Villa Farm Quarry.
Details of all 11 award-winning restoration schemes are presented here.
Cooper-Heyman Cup
Villa Farm Quarry, Essex
This once busy sand and gravel site has been transformed into a tranquil and beautiful nature haven, which has already won wide acclaim.
The original objective, as set out in the planning permission, was simply to restore the land to ‘quiet’ after-use with a strong bias towards nature conservation. The current nature conservation area totals just under 4.5ha and comprises a large lake bordered by meadow and heathland. Work started in 1993 and ended in 1996, with the initial phase of restoration completed in early 1998.
In creating the lake area, particular care was taken over water levels and the construction of islands with gently sloping edges and shingle areas for nesting terns. A long and irregular shoreline was created around the lake to suit the feeding needs of water-fowl, while shallower areas were planned away from the edges to provide shelter. Some 65 bird species have been recorded at the site during monitoring surveys.
Significant thought was also given to improving and protecting the site’s biodiversity, and an action plan has been drawn up to ensure that the correct natural balance of the whole conservation area is maintained.
Alresford Sand & Ballast’s close relationship with the local residents’ group has also earned particular praise from Essex County Council, which has also recognized the quality of the overall operation at Villa Farm through four consecutive gold awards in its own mineral working environmental-management scheme.
However, the restoration of Villa Farm Quarry is by no means finished – plans are in place to enlarge the area when quarrying is completed at a nearby Alresford Sand & Ballast site. With restoration of the overall site continuing in phases, Villa Farm will ultimately consist of a series of conservation lakes surrounded by meadow and heathland, together with a large area of newly planted woodland.
Commenting on their achievements so far, Peter Orrock, managing director of Alresford Sand & Ballast, said: ‘We are delighted to have achieved a superb example of conservation, amenity and biodiversity, while being able to supply the local construction market with essential aggregates.’
Awards with Special Merit
Aymestrey Quarry, Herefordshire
This 46ha former sand and gravel quarry has been restored into a carefully blended mix of agriculture and woodland within an area designated as being of Great Landscape Value. The site was quarried by a number of small operators from 1952 until the late 1960s, when it was bought by Hanson Aggregates. Quarrying finally ended in 1990, by which time restoration was well advanced with the final objective of blending the worked areas back into the wider landscape.
Crucial to this aim was the way in which soils were handled prior to extraction. Topsoil, subsoil and overburden were stripped and stored separately before being replaced. Similar attention to detail meant that new trees and shrubs were planted with compost incorporated into the backfill.
A five-year aftercare programme which followed included drainage inspections, soil analysis, weed control and grazing management. The end result is some 24ha of pasture, more than 18,000 new trees, over 700m of new hedges and several ponds, all created leaving no evidence that quarrying has ever taken place.
Brandon Nature Reserve, Warwickshire
This former Lafarge Aggregates sand and gravel quarry has been transformed into an 80ha nature centre of major ecological significance. The site was worked for some 20 years from 1970 and was progressively restored to an initial stage of completion by the late 1980s, but has been continually enhanced ever since.
The restoration of the quarry lakes and silt pond provided the framework for the nature reserve, and a former farmhouse on the site was leased to Warwickshire Wildlife Trust as offices. These have been extended and developed with grant aid and support from Lafarge Aggregates through the landfill tax credit scheme.
The buildings include the Lafarge lecture theatre and classroom, together with an interpretive centre featuring touch-screen interactive displays, and a restaurant. Outdoors, the site features seven lakes, six bird hides, dragonfly ponds and a sensory garden.
Sir David Attenborough formally opened the reserve in 1999 and the site is now visited by some 50,000 people every year, including many schoolchildren.
Cassington Quarry, Oxfordshire
Hanson Aggregates received an award with special merit for their restoration of 15ha of their 121ha Cassington Quarry sand and gravel site. Prior to quarrying the area was intensively farmed but was divided by a network of hedges, ditches and tracks, many of which have remained intact as the framework for today’s restoration.
The after-use concept for Cassington Quarry involves a balance between nature conservation and longer-term commercial recreation, such as sailing, windsurfing and fishing, on the remaining areas.
The lake margins at Cassington have been improved with both shallow and deeper areas, bays and promontories. The work also included the creation of two shingle-covered islands. The planting and aftercare programme was equally rigorous, drawing on expertise developed at other Hanson sites. More than 9,000 trees have been planted and are flourishing, many of them planted directly into silt in a former settlement pond.
The result is the transforma-tion of an intensively farmed area to a lake, grassland and shrubby woodland of significant biodiversity value and visual landscape interest. A total of 116 species of birds have been recorded since the site opened.
Dinmor Parc Quarry, Isle of Anglesey
The origins of this 15ha quarry date back to the 1800s when it was established to meet the local needs of the island. An extension, including new sea-loading facilities, was granted in 1967 in recognition of the need for stone for the Seaforth development at Liverpool docks. Quarrying finally ended in at Dinmor in the early 1980s, but with its redundant structures, stockpiles, quarry floor and faces all visible from the sea, the site stood out as a blot on a coastline designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Lafarge Aggregates became responsible for the site through a series of business acquisitions and, although under no obligation to carry out rehabilitation work at the site, in consultation with the landowner, they agreed that a restoration scheme was needed. The old ship-loading facilities and pier were demolished, old quarry structures were removed, old working faces were treated to make them safe and more natural looking, and the quarry floor was re-graded with fine stone to provide a suitable surface for vegetation cover.
The regeneration of Dinmor Parc did not end there however, as the restoration work has also made it possible for a successful, state-of-the-art fish farm to be established on the site.
Restoration Awards
Beckford Quarry, Worcestershire
The progressive restoration of Huntsmans Quarries’ Beckford Quarry has resulted in the creation of a small nature reserve on the edge of a picturesque village. The site was worked for sand between 1981 and 1987, so forming the basis for today’s lake. Although small in size (just 3ha), the reserve represents one of the largest semi-natural habitats in an intensively farmed area and supports a wide diversity of species including 88 different varieties of flora, 40 birds, 13 insects and nine types of butterfly. Habitats range from open water to grassland and woodland. Quarrying at the site has also left a rare geological exposure that has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Berkswell Quarry, Solihull
RMC Aggregates’ restoration of 22ha of Berkswell Quarry has created the Marsh Lane Nature Reserve. The restored area was quarried between 1994 and 1999 and restoration was completed in 2001. The restoration plan involved creating two lakes with a variety of different habitats. The open water is of varying depth to suit a variety of plants, fish and birds, and the shallower areas are important to resident and wintering wildfowl. Islands provide predator-free nesting and roosting areas for species such as terns, oystercatchers and the little ringed plover, while reed beds have been established in one corner for breeding birds such as reed and sedge warblers. Four bird hides have been built, all with wheelchair access.
Brookhouse Farm Quarry, Cheshire
This former WBB Minerals sand quarry has been returned mainly to agriculture but with an attractive lake occupying one corner. The working plan involved stripping soil from half the site and storing it in a 3m high mound, to provide screening. As the sand face progressed across the site, the working area was progressively restored using the stored soil, with more soil then being removed in stages from the remainder. During its statutory five-year aftercare period good-quality arable crops, cereals and potatoes were successfully grown on the land. In addition, new woodland areas have been designed to merge with existing copses, while the lake has been managed to achieve its full nature conservation potential while also providing fishing and acting as a standby irrigation reservoir.
Greenham Common, Berkshire
When the American air force left Greenham Common at the end of the Cold War, West Berkshire Council resumed control of the base and plans were developed to return it to its origins as ‘common’ land. But after the runway was broken up and recycled the land was still far from ideal to recreate a sensitive acidic heathland habitat. The answer lay in removing the overlying gravel and re-profiling the underlying layer to create a range of micro-habitats. The project was assigned to Tarmac Southern who removed 1 million tonnes of sand and gravel over a 12-month period for processing at a neighbouring quarry. With the acidic sub-strata exposed, the job of re-colonizing the site with heather and other plant species has now been passed back to West Berkshire Council.
Marston’s Pit, Suffolk
Situated in the Breckland region of Suffolk, the restored area of Allen Newport Ltd’s Marston’s Pit covers 26ha and is part of a larger ongoing quarry totalling 117ha. Most of the area now covered by the quarry was shown as heathland on early maps but this had been converted to farmland and a military airfield by the 1950s. It was worked for sand and gravel from 1969 to 1983 and was restored progressively until 1995. After being farmed for a variety of crops until 1999, the whole area was allowed to naturally regenerate the short acid grassland habitat that is typical of the ‘Brecks’. The restored quarry now supports one of the highest densities of the rare stone curlew and is also a popular grazing habitat for roe and muntjak deer.
Mountcastle Quarry, Fife
Hanson Aggregates have restored an initial 14.5ha of their 76ha Mountcastle Quarry to nature conservation. The quarry, which has planning permission until 2009, is set in an open agricultural landscape with arable, grazing and forestry uses. To date, more than 9,000 native trees and shrubs have been planted, creating a variety of habitats ranging from broadleaf woodland to wetland margins. The long-term plan is to create a new landscape that includes a 25ha water area together with new woodlands connecting to existing plantations. A substantial area of the site will be devoted to nature conservation and recreation, with woodland walks, car parking, picnic areas and facilities for fishing and birdwatching.