Showcase 09
Celebrating the official launch of the MPA
This year’s Showcase event – which took place at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London on 4 June – was more momentous and significant than ever before, celebrating four major industry achievements: the official launch of the Mineral Products Association (MPA); the affiliation with British Precast, the trade federation for the UK concrete products industry; the 40th anniversary of the Restoration Awards; and the announcement of a new Natural England Biodiversity Award.
Building on last year’s theme of Sustainable Construction, Showcase 09 was hosted by Channel 4 broadcaster Krishnan Guru-Murthy, together with Kate Humble, BBC Springwatch presenter and vice president of the RSPB. The event highlighted the MPA’s overall sustainability performance across the aggregates, quarry products, cement and concrete sectors in a topical, informative and captivating mix of film clips, on-stage presentations, announcements and interviews.
Showcase 09 proved to be a resounding success with over 550 delegates attending the event, including principal speakers Poul Christensen, acting chairman of Natural England, who presented a special award to mark the 40th anniversary of the Restoration Awards, and Lord Smith of Finsbury, chairman of the Environment Agency, who presented the Cooper-Heyman Cup for outstanding restoration in 2009.
In her opening speech on the launch of the MPA, chairman Lynda Chase-Gardener said: ‘We have brought together three respected bodies from a large and important sector to create a dynamic, focused and efficient association. The mineral products we represent are, in reality, all part of the same production line. Whether it is aggregates, cement, concrete, asphalt, mortar, lime or silica sand, they are all essential to UK plc.
‘We also offer sustainable solutions. The MPA has powerful initiatives, including health and safety, carbon reduction, responsible sourcing and biodiversity. Each of these are examples where long-term success will depend on partnerships with many organizations.’
Indeed, concrete products trade federation British Precast has recently signed an affiliation agreement with the MPA, with a view to moving to an integrated corporate structure over the next 12 months. The combination of British Precast and the MPA will create a powerful lobbying force for both concrete and other heavy-side materials, and will allow the wider concrete industry to speak with one aligned voice.
This year is the 40th anniversary of the Restoration Awards and to mark the occasion a special one-off trophy for the best Cooper- Heyman Cup winner since the scheme began was presented to Laleham Farm, in Middlesex.
This former sand and gravel site, now part of Brett Group, has been successfully restored to productive agricultural use where crops, such as fennel, coriander and spring onions, are grown and supplied to London wholesale markets, local farm shops, greengrocers and farmers markets.
As part of the ecological landscape, hedges and ditches were introduced during extraction to provide wildlife corridors, and a small lake has been retained and developed, attracting species including geese, amphibians, dragonflies, lapwings and little ringed plovers. Along the eastern boundary of the site is a 2m high elm tree cut into an ‘A’ shape, which has become a feature of great interest in the landscape.
Meanwhile, the seven entries vying for this year’s top prize – the 2009 Cooper- Heyman Cup – were all of an exceptional standard and each one deserves recognition. Details of all of this year’s award-winning restoration schemes are presented below.
Cooper-Heyman Cup
National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire
Lafarge Aggregates, in partnership with the National Memorial Arboretum, have planted more than 50,000 trees to create wooded parkland. There are also lakes, ponds, riverine habitat, grassland, reed beds and wetland.
Biodiversity has been promoted through hedge laying, a willow sculpture, willow hedge construction and the building of an artificial otter holt. Located near where the rivers Tame, Trent and Meese meet, the Arboretum is also an important wildlife corridor. Otters, brown owls, kingfishers, brown hares and lapwings have been spotted.
Within the Arboretum is the Armed Forces Memorial, which commemorates servicemen killed on duty since 1948. The design of this memorial was partly inspired by a 3,000 year-old Bronze Age burial mound, which is also preserved on site.
Over 1,000 volunteers work at the Arboretum, where there is a Lafarge education resource centre and a Wildlife Watch Group for younger people, supported by the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust.
Restoration Award winners
Cauldon Cement Works, Shale Quarry, Staffordshire
The 17.1ha restoration site at Cauldon Cement Works, Staffordshire, is situated in a picturesque area near to the Hamps and Manifold SSSI and SAC, and the Peak District National Park.
Working in tandem with the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, Lafarge Aggregates have created a shale lake and reed beds, both of which have attracted many birds, including herons, little grebes, kingfishers and owl species such as barn owls, nesting tawny owls and little owls. Plant and insect life around the lake abounds, with a gently shelving beach created to help the growth of marginal flora.
Other key features of the restoration scheme include grazing land and a post-industrial biodiversity area, both of which are within a former waste tip. To promote habitat creation, bat, blue tit and robin boxes have been provided, while a bird hide has been built by youth volunteers from Staffordshire Wildlife Trust.
Irthlingborough Quarry, Northamptonshire
This former sand and gravel site has now been designated as part of the Upper Nene Gravel Pits SSSI and has been proposed as a RAMSAR site and Special Protection Area because of its value for birdlife.
Hanson UK have restored the quarry into a variety a wetland landscapes from areas of open water to wet woodland, without taking away its floodplain capacity. The landform and water levels have been carefully designed to avoid the need for constant water pumping.
In restoring the flood meadow, the topsoil was mixed with the subsoil to encourage the growth of wild flowers and grasses. Large, steep-sided voids have been converted into fragmented water bodies using overburden and soils from extraction.
The lakes, ranging from shallow to deep, contain spits and small islands with reeds planted along many banks. The site also provides areas for cattle grazing, habitats for over wintering birds and small ponds and ditches for amphibians and dragonflies.
Badgers, otters, foxes, lapwings, mallard and warblers are also known to be visitors to the site.
A circular footpath walk has been created around the site and the Nene Valley Way now runs through the area, providing public access for walking, fishing and bird watching.
Hell Pit, Bittering Quarry, Norfolk
Hell Pit, a former sand and gravel quarry located in west Norfolk, forms part of Bittering Quarry, which still processes sand and gravel extracted nearby. Although Hell Pit is not open to the public (the 22.9ha site is the property of a local landowner), Tarmac have transformed the site into an area of agriculture and nature conservation.
The creation of a water body with an interesting shape complements the immediate landscape. With shallows, reed beds and a duck feeder, the lake provides a habitat for a diverse range of waterfowl and bird species. There is also a variety of fish species, including carp, roach, tench and silver bream.
Trees and hedgerows have been created at Hell Pit, and towards the middle of the site is an area planted for game cover with brambles, nettles, mature trees and shrubs, as well as daffodils and wildflowers.
Swanton Morley, Norfolk
Swanton Morley Quarry is a 62ha site in the Wensum Valley, Norfolk, which was previously worked for sand and gravel. The river Wensum, a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) due to the presence of white-clawed crayfish, flows through the middle of the area.
CEMEX UK had to carry out the restoration sensitively to complement the river habit and not to endanger the white-clawed crayfish population. As a result, a series of reed or tree-fringed lakes were constructed providing cover for wildfowl, while other habitats have been formed, including lowland mixed deciduous woodland, wet woodland, reed beds and riverside vegetation. In between the lakes, sections of existing woodland have been left in place to give the impression of overall maturity to the restoration.
The site is inhabited by otter, reed bunting, marsh tit, song thrush, bats, bittern and water vole. Habitats suitable for invertebrates have also been created.
Several of the lakes are now owned and managed by the Norfolk Fly Fishing Association and Dereham & District Angling Club. The restoration area is also of archaeological importance as the largest Romano-British burial area in Norfolk is found there.
Ringwood Quarry, Ibsley Water, Hampshire
The 77ha restoration site at Ringwood Quarry sits within the complex of former sand and gravel pits known as Blashford Lakes. Through collaboration between Hanson UK, Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water Company, and the Hampshire and Isle of Wright Wildlife Trust, one of the main restoration features of Ibsley Water is the creation of the largest lake in the Blashford complex.
The 54ha lake has been restored with sensitively shaped margins and varied underwater gradients to achieve shallows, islands and shingle spits. Small groups of native trees and shrubs have also been planted, although this has been limited along the shoreline to avoid excessive shading.
A soil bund running alongside the A338 not only provides a pasture for New Forest ponies, but is also an effective screening feature. The ponies help to vary sward height and control the growth of the shoreline willow scrub, enhancing grazing opportunities for wintering wildfowl. Ibsley Water is also an extremely important site for a number of species, including Bewick’s swans, wintering coots, black-tailed godwits, wideons and goosanders.
Ibsley Water is accessible to visitors and has become very popular with birdwatchers, thanks to three bird hides, information boards, a car park and footpaths.
Charing Sand Pit, Kent
The 15.6ha restoration site at Charing Sand Pit was previously worked for building and concreting sand. Today, Lafarge Aggregates have restored the site to grazing and wet grassland in the base of the quarry, with the steep-sided banks graded and planted with native trees and shrubs.
The planting of woodland began before 1991 to screen the site from Newlands Road and Newlands Farm, and this carried on progressively as areas of the quarry were worked. There are now mature trees on the southern and eastern slopes, with only the western slopes, where the plant was located, containing young trees and shrubs. Tree species include oak, hawthorn, ash, Italian alder and silver birch.
There is also a variety of fauna and flora on site. Following the removal of the processing plant, this area has been re-graded and seeded with a grass mixture of fescues, flattened meadow grass and bents. Another interesting restoration feature is the wet area or ‘winter lake’, which has self-generating rushes that attracts ducks.
The concrete entrance road to the former quarry has been left to provide access for maintenance, while footpaths have been created on the site which link with other paths in the local area.
Natural England Biodiversity Award
Natural England will be sponsoring a new Biodiversity Award at next year’s Showcase. The collaboration between Natural England and the MPA builds on the Biodiversity Action Plan launched by the Association at Showcase 08.
The new trophy will further support the other biodiversity initiatives that the MPA is already involved in, such as the Nature After Minerals (NAM) project, run in conjunction with the RSPB and Natural England; MPA Northern Ireland’s involvement in the ‘Our Nature with Aggregates’’ strategy; and, at European level, the Countdown 2010 scheme.
Poul Christensen, acting chairman of Natural England, commented: ‘Our work with the minerals industry is a model which other sectors could usefully follow. The minerals sector is an enthusiastic and practical partner whose contribution to biodiversity and geodiversity…is a practical example of what industries can achieve by committing to work with the environment.
‘We hope the new Natural England Biodiversity Award, which we are announcing this year, will help raise the profile of the good work these companies deliver.’
