Quarries & Nature 2025 Awards
Top conservationists united in praise about the role quarrying plays in nature recovery
LEADING figures in UK nature conservation gathered at The Royal Society, in London, this week to celebrate the essential role quarrying plays in nature recovery and biodiversity gain.
‘Quarries & Nature 2025’, hosted by the Mineral Products Association (MPA), saw awards presented to the best current examples of wildlife habitat creation through the sensitive operation, management, and restoration of mineral extraction sites.
Among those speaking and presenting awards were Tony Juniper CBE, chair of Natural England, RSPB chief executive Beccy Speight, and Rob Stoneman, director of landscape recovery at The Wildlife Trusts. More than 200 representatives from MPA members, planning authorities, and numerous conservation groups attended the event, which was compered by broadcast journalist Sybil Ruscoe, who has a long association with the countryside and rural affairs.
Tony Juniper said: ‘Some of these restoration schemes are really quite mind-blowing, delivering nature recovery at scale, at the same time as producing the resources we need to build homes and infrastructure, developing landscapes that support climate resilience, while also creating fantastic places for families to get close to wildlife.
‘All of this presents a massive opportunity for a country that's struggling to meet competing environmental goals. With better strategic planning, more joined-up thinking, and with all stakeholders on board, the mineral products industry could be a famous vanguard in building a truly sustainable society.’
Beccy Speight said: ‘We’ve seen some fantastic restoration work at Quarries & Nature, and I applaud mineral products for being an industry that has the ambition and is getting on with it, proving it can deliver economic growth and nature recovery at the same time.
‘There’s an urgent need to create new habitats, to create more space for nature, and that’s exactly what the industry is doing. To see that happening is really inspiring. We’ve seen powerful examples of what's possible when business and conservation work together, and I encourage MPA members to sustain their ambition and keep delivering innovative solutions to help nature flourish, because we need it now more than ever.’
Now in their 54th year, the independently judged awards have seen hundreds of former quarries transformed into new areas for wildlife. Indeed, many of the UK’s most treasured nature reserves and country parks have been created through quarrying, and MPA members continue to bring to fruition new areas of habitat that support some of the UK’s rarest and most endangered species.
MPA chair Lex Russell said: ‘The mineral products industry is unrivalled by any other when it comes to a combination of expertise and on-the-ground delivery for nature. Working with partner organizations, MPA members have a proven track record when it comes to increasing biodiversity through quarry restoration and land management.
‘This year's Quarries & Nature awards provide more evidence of the extensive legacy the industry has built over decades. There has never been a more important moment to recognize the essential role of domestic raw materials in the economy and our society, alongside the long-term contribution the industry makes to nature. While others talk about potential, minerals producers have actually been delivering positive outcomes and we are committed to doing so going forward.’
The 2025 awards saw almost 40 entries from across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland in the main Restoration award and four Biodiversity award categories of Innovation, Landscape Scale, Planned Restoration, and Individual or Group Contribution.
Winners of the coveted Cooper-Heyman Cup for outstanding achievement in quarry restoration were Tarmac and the RSPB at Langford Quarry, near Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire. The partnership has transformed an area of 122ha of the former sand and gravel quarry into a mosaic of wetlands, lowland meadows, wet woodland, and agriculture.
The judges said that ‘this highly impressive site is a key component of the wider landscape-scale restoration works being undertaken along the Trent by the minerals sector’ and there was a ‘high level of expertise shown in the design and delivery in partnership with the RSPB’.
Highly commended in the Restoration category were Heidelberg Materials with Smiths Concrete and Warwickshire Wildlife Trust for Bubbenhall Wood and Meadows Nature Reserve; whilst in Oxfordshire Smith & Sons (Bletchington) with Linear Fisheries (Oxford) were highly commended for Tar Farm Lakes.
In the Biodiversity – Innovation category, which recognizes imaginative approaches that advance best practices, the winners were Tarmac with Cranfield University for measuring and integrating biodiversity net gain and carbon sequestration into restoration at Maxey Quarry in Cambridgeshire and Wivenhoe Quarry in Essex. Runners up in the Innovation category were Cemex for the conservation grazing using a ‘virtual fence’ at Rugeley Quarry, near Cannock Chase, in Staffordshire.
Staffordshire restoration schemes were also joint winners of the Biodiversity – Landscape Scale category, which celebrates projects that connect with their surroundings to deliver on the Lawton principles of ‘Making Space for Nature’ – more, bigger, better and joined areas of nature conservation. Holcim at Cauldon Cement Quarry and Caldon Low Aggregate Quarry shared the prize with Heidelberg Materials at Barton Quarry. Highly commended in the Landscape Scale category were Tarmac for Arcow and Dry Rigg Quarries in North Yorkshire, and Holcim for Little Paxton Quarry in Cambridgeshire.
Winners of the Biodiversity – Planned Restoration category, highlighting schemes that are approved but yet to be delivered, and will deliver biodiversity benefits in future, were Heidelberg Materials for restoration at Birch Quarry in Essex, with Tarmac highly commended for their work at Wivenhoe Quarry, also in Essex.
Finally, five people received awards for their personal dedication and contribution to enhancing biodiversity at restored quarries, along with awards for a quarry team and a volunteer group that have gone above and beyond, and the 15-year conservation partnership between Cemex and the RSPB.
Mark Russell, MPA executive director of planning and mineral resources, said: ‘We are delighted that our achievements continue to be recognized by the UK’s leading conservation bodies with whom we have longstanding partnerships. Unfortunately, the Government consistently fails to appreciate how our industry is uniquely placed to directly help convert aspirations for nature recovery and biodiversity into leadership and action on the ground.
‘We hope that this year's Quarries & Nature event triggers wider recognition and debate. Besides providing essential, domestically sourced materials, we are one of the few industries that has demonstrated time and again it can deliver tangible solutions to the UK’s nature recovery challenges, and we are ready to work with all stakeholders to protect and enhance biodiversity.
‘The minerals industry has a long and proven track record of delivering new areas for wildlife through the responsible management, restoration, and aftercare of quarries. In partnership with the leading conservation bodies, our sector has already created more than 90km2 of priority habitat with a further 110km2 already planned and committed.’
