Biodiversity and site stewardship

We have biodiversity and geodiversity action plans (BAPs and GAPs) in place for all but one of our quarries and they are all published on our website. The exception is the new Smiths Concrete quarry at Woolston in Warwickshire where a BAP is being developed. We also have an indicator looking at quarries with high biodiversity value. These are defined as those located within 500 metres of a Site of Special Scientific Interest and all of them have BAPs in place. We have a database to manage actions within our BAPs and track progress.

We again participated in HeidelbergCement’s Quarry Life Award, a biennial competition aimed at encouraging biodiversity research at quarry sites throughout the Group. The top prize in the UK section went to a project carried out at Batts Combe quarry in Cheddar, Somerset by a team from the University of the West of England (UWE), which looked at the importance of grassland restoration of quarry benches for bats and concluded that revegetated benches can be highly beneficial for bats.

A survey carried out by UWE students as part of the project found that there were 16 times more bat species flying and feeding in the sheltered areas on quarry benches than on other grassland areas around the site, and made recommendations for the creation and management of new habitats.

Second prize went to Nottingham Trent University for a project carried out at Misson quarry in Nottinghamshire looking at the importance of bare ground habitat to invertebrate biodiversity.

For more information visit the Quarry Life Award website: www.quarrylifeaward.com

Biodiversity and site stewardship data

Biodiversity and site stewardship
	2014	2015	2016
Quarries	61	57	57
Quarries with restoration plans	61	57	57
Quarries with BAPs and/or GAPs	59	57	56
Quarries with BAPs	59	57	56
Quarries with high biodiversity value	36	35	35
Quarries with high biodiversity value and BAPs	36	35	35
Marine BAPs	3	3	3
Total BAPs and GAPs	83	81	80

Note: Quarries are those that that have been operational in the last three years.

Target: All quarries to implement published biodiversity action plans.