Trusham becomes first quarry to win top RICS award

HANSON Aggregates' Trusham Quarry in south Devon has won one of the top accolades in this year's Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' awards.

The quarry took the regeneration award which honours projects that have improved the environment to the benefit of the community. It is the first time in the awards' nine-year history that a prize has gone to a quarry site.

Trusham was highlighted as an excellent example of planning by the in-house team, who worked closely with local planners and the highways authorities to complete the £3.4 million scheme. As part of the project the site was extensively landscaped and the B3193, which previously ran through the middle of the site, was realigned, cutting out a dangerous double bend.

Efforts that the quarry made to keep local residents informed were praised by RICS, as was the environmental work at the site. The judges said that careful screening of the quarry works and machinery had already brought improvements, and they added that planting to encourage birdlife had been particularly well thought out and that considerate management of the quarry operations would play an important role in the re-establishment of local plants and wildlife, notably recolonization of the area by buzzards and the protection of otters.

Hanson lands manager Ian Harrison, who joined site manager David Kirk to receive the award in London, said: 'I am pleased that the enormous effort that has gone into the Trusham project has been recognized. There was a massive joint effort from people from a number of disciplines and this award is a great boost for all of them.'