1999 Restoration and Environment Award winners

On 24 March 2000 David Woodhall of the Countryside Agency presented the 1999 QPA Restoration Awards at a special ceremony in London. Now in its 30th year, the competition rewards excellence in the restoration of hard rock and sand and gravel sites throughout the UK.

Ten sites received awards this year, with two attaining Awards with Special Merit. The highest accolade - the Cooper Heyman Cup - was awarded to RMC's Bush Farm Quarry in Greater London, where a succession of pioneering agricultural experiments since the 1960s have resulted in breakthrough restoration techniques, many of which have subsequently been adopted as standard industry practice.

The two Awards with Special Merit went to Hanson Aggregates' Fen Drayton Quarry in Cambridgeshire, for the restoration of a former sand and gravel site to a 108ha nature reserve, and Tarmac Quarry Products' Little Mill Quarry in Northumberland, for the landscaping of a whinstone quarry into a local attraction featuring a striking cliff face and water feature.

The remaining seven award-winning sites were: Brampton West Quarry (Tarmac Quarry Products); Bredons Hardwick (RMC Aggregates (Western) Ltd); Cliffe Hill Quarry (Midland Quarry Products); Hawden Farm (RMC Aggregates (Southern) Ltd); Lavant Quarry (Tarmac Quarry Products); Warmwell Quarry (Aggregate Industries); and West Knighton Pit (Hanson Aggregates).

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Simon van der Byl, director general of the QPA, said: 'It is a pleasure to see that, in the 30th year of the QPA's awards scheme, the standard of entries is as exceptional as ever.'

Meanwhile, the results of the QPA's annual Environmental Awards Scheme have revealed the highest total of Gold and 5-star ratings awarded to date, marking the fifth consecutive rise in overall standards since the scheme was launched five years ago.

This year 107 sites received 5-star awards (up 42% on the previous year), of which 39 received the Gold award (up 39%).

Simon van der Byl commented: 'This scheme shows that quarry companies' environmental standards are going from strength to strength. The successive rise in standards each year - now up to an average rating of four stars - demonstrates the great strides that the industry has made in improving environmental standards.'