Keltbray win Gold Green Apple Award
Company recognized for recycling best practice on London Bridge station redevelopment
KELTBRAY, UK specialists in construction, demolition, decommissioning and remediation services, have won a Gold Green Apple Award in the Building and Construction category for work being carried out as part of the London Bridge station redevelopment, to divert waste from landfill.
Keltbray have been working on the London Bridge improvements since 2012. The project is part of Network Rail’s London Railway Upgrade Plan, creating new connections and increasing capacity in peak hour by 30%.
Newer platforms and a new concourse will be built as part of the redevelopment, and Keltbray were presented with the Green Apple Award for their handling and treatment of multiple waste streams from the construction site. These include: soils, track ballast; and concrete which was treated and recovered for reuse on other building projects.
‘We were able to treat more than 22,000 tonnes of material from London Bridge in 12 months, including all hazardous and non-hazardous soils and track ballast, which we barged to suitable restoration sites following treatment,’ said Dr Cliff Burton, managing director of Keltbray Environmental.
The company also ensured 1,000 tonnes of concrete from the site were crushed at its recycling facility and suitable for reuse in new developments. In total, the diverted waste from landfill and the use of barge transportation have saved over 1,000 lorry journeys and reduced the carbon footprint of the contract considerably.
Dr Burton commented: ‘Barges produce 64% less carbon emissions and 15% less NOx than a fully loaded Euro 3-compliant eight-wheel tipper truck. They are also safer and less noisy than lorries and allow us to transport much more material per movement.
‘This contract was particularly challenging, as the redevelopment site had minimal space for the stockpiling of materials. We also had to work to very tight deadlines to meet strict requirements on site. Our aim was to pre-classify as much of the soil and waste types as possible, so the material could leave quickly.’
He continued: ‘This required a rigorous sampling programme that was implemented to provide individual analysis on each of the railway arches on site, as these all had unique contamination profiles. It also meant we had to take extra care to manage the waste material and ensure it was correctly classified, as misclassification would have had significant environmental and financial consequences.’
Launched in 1994 by The Green Organisation, the Green Apple Environment Awards recognize, reward and promote environmental best practice around the world.
