Restored quarry wins top industry award

Hanson won the coveted Cooper Heyman Cup for outstanding achievement in restoration at the Mineral Products Association’s Quarries and Nature 2015 event at the Royal Society in London.

The former Middleton Hall sand and gravel quarry on the Staffordshire/Warwickshire border beat off strong competition to win the industry’s flagship restoration award. The 470-hectare site has been restored to a mix of after-use from sport and leisure to reed beds, woodland, pasture and fishing. The majority of the restored area is managed as a nature reserve by the RSPB while a smaller section has been developed into a training ground for Aston Villa football club. The award was presented to landscape manager Dave Southgate, who has been closely involved in the project for the last 20 years.

In the biodiversity category, the landscape scale award was won by a joint entry from Hanson and Aggregate Industries (AI) for work done at the neighbouring Batts Combe and Callow Rock quarries in the Mendip Hills which has created a prime example of nature connectivity through a combination of restoration and land management.

Hanson and AI have also worked together to introduce a grazing programme to deal with major scrub invasion within a jointly-owned Site of Special Scientific Interest known as The Perch. The project has been supported by Somerset Wildlife Trust and Natural England and won praise from the judges for the enthusiasm and collaboration of all parties involved.