Winners of the Stone Federation’s Natural Stone Sustainability Awards, results of which were announced in March, have been honoured again at the Natural Stone Awards 2012 ceremony.
This took place at Lord’s cricket ground in London on Friday (November 30) and organisers took the opportunity to feature the three sustainability winners as part of the event.
The Federation s sustainability awards were created to highlight the sustainable qualities of natural stone and to recognise and reward outstanding achievement, awareness and innovation in sustainability within the industry. It is the third year they have been held.
A project designed to generate its own electricity saw Dorset company Lovell Purbeck win one of the awards. There were also awards for Guernsey’s Granite Le Pelley for their work in refurbishing and extending a hotel on the Isle of Sark, and for Hardscape from Bolton for a project in Nelson town centre.
The award in the category for “Workshops and Premises” went to Lovell Purbeck, which in the last year has been investing heavily in generating its own electricity at Downs Quarry in Purbeck and Bowdens Quarry in Somerset
A photo voltaic generation system has been installed on the roof of the company’s new tile processing factory at Downs Quarry and is able to generate 20 per cent of the company’s total electricity requirements for the processing facility.
When processing is not taking place surplus electricity is fed back to the national grid.
A similar, but slightly smaller, system at its Bowdens Quarry produces enough electricity to run all of the processing equipment, making the site self sufficient in electricity.
An award for “landscaping” went to Hardscape for a project in Nelson, Lancashire.
Following a decline in retail trade Pendle Borough Council was granted funding of £2.3 million to recreate “The High Street” in an attempt to regenerate the town centre. This included reintroducing slow moving traffic to a previously pedestrianised precinct.
But after changes in funding the council was asked to cut the cost of the scheme by £200,000 and complete the programme in twelve months instead of the planned fifteen. This was achieved through strong project management skills.
A mixture of high quality locally sourced natural stone and manmade materials have produced a visually pleasing but robust scheme.
Stone paving flags to the pedestrian movement zones, stone setts to crossing points and hot rolled asphalt coloured buff has provided durability to the vehicle route.
The award for “Re-use of materials” went to Granite Le Pelley for a project at La Moinerie Hotel on Sark. This utilised material from derelict 18th century granite farm buildings surrounding the hotel.
The owners wanted to sensitively renew and refurbish the existing hotel and add new bedrooms and a restaurant. A very traditional cottage style was adopted to remain in keeping with the existing buildings.
The re-use of materials included reclaimed random granite walling from derelict buildings and reclaimed granite setts and cubes obtained from Brittany. The latter became available as existing cobbled streets were dug up and replaced with modern materials.
Other sustainable features included a central oil fired boiler with insulated pipe work, a water management infrastructure and additional boreholes to provide a water supply. Roof rainwater is collected and used on the nearby market garden which supplies the hotel with organic fresh vegetables.
When the winners were first announced Jane Buxey, Chief Executive of Stone Federation Great Britain said “In this modern world sustainably has become an increasingly important issue and it is right that we acknowledge those members of the natural stone industry who incorporate it as a key consideration when undertaking projects.”
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Kevin McCloud, Guest Presenter |
Tommy Walsh, Guest Presenter |
Jim Rosenthal, Compere |
Alan Dedicoat, Compere |
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