“The European Aggregates Industry is part of the solution”, said UEPG President Antonis Antoniou Latouros at the beginning of the event, which Peter Woodward brilliantly moderated.
High-level keynote speakers Costas Kadis, Cypriot Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment and European Parliament Vice-President Rainer Wieland addressed an audience of more than 230 participants from companies, environmental organisations, academia, and European and national authorities.
A distinguished jury of experts, comprising Martin Harper, Regional Director of BirdLife Europe and Central Asia; Yuri Bruinen de Bruin, Expert from the EU Agency for Safety & Health at Work; Bernd Lottermoser, Chair in sustainable resource extraction and Director of the Institute of Mineral Resources Engineering at the University of Aachen; Brenda O’Brien, Official Brussels representative of the EU Agency for Safety & Health at Work; and Guy Woodford, Editor of Aggregates Business Europe magazine, chose the following nine outstanding award winners who were honoured on the night:
• Aggregate Industries, in the category of Restoration, with the project ‘Ripon City Quarry Restoration’
• Lasselsberger GmbH, in the category of Environmental Best Practice, with the project ‘Greener Construction’
• Nederzand Projectmanagement BV, in the category of Local Community Partnership, with the project ‘Over de Maas’
• Tarmac Ltd – Nether Langwith Quarry, in the category of Health & Safety best practice, with the project ‘Creation of an Occupational Health and Wellbeing (OHWB) Learning Centre at The Park’
• Teunesen Zand & Grint B.V., in the category of Economic contribution / added value to society, with the project ‘Bakel - Milheeze Integral Area Programme’
• domingos da silva teixeira S.A., in the category of Operational best practice, process or product Innovation, with the project ‘Gouvães: A quarry & aggregates plant designed to provide a green energy infrastructure: Product and process Innovations’
• Wilhelm Stürmlinger & Söhne GmbH & Co. KG, in the category of Best practice in innovation or recycling, marine or manufactured aggregates, with the project ‘Processing of excavated Tunnel Material to produce aggregates according to the German Construction Products Directive’
• LafargeHolcim España, in the category of Communication, with the project ‘Communicating the value of biodiversity in extraction sites’
• Hermann Trollius GmbH, in the category of Biodiversity, with the project ‘Transplantation of the Lady’s Slipper Orchid’
Several projects also received a Special Mention:
• LafargeHolcim España, S.A.U., in the category of Restoration, with the project ‘La Chanta quarry: a key to Sustainability in the Aggregates sector’
• Bocahut SAS, in the category of Health & Safety best practice, with the project ‘Manage quarry prevention plans with the EPDP’ web and mobile application developed by BOCAHUT
• Prebetong Áridos, S.L.U., in the category of Economic contribution / added value to society, with the project ‘ONE GRAVEL, MANY LIVES: from gravel to orange grove (and boutique hotel)’
• Candesa Group - Canteras de Santander, in the category of Operational best practice, process or product Innovation, with the project ‘Mining 4.0: Future technology for a sustainable present’
• Zukunft Niederrhein, in the category of Communication, with the project ‘Regional public relations work: TOGETHER for sand+gravel and more raw material awareness among the population’
• Hanson Aggregates, in the category of Biodiversity, with the project ‘Floodplain Forest Nature Reserve, Milton Keynes’
Out of the 67 entries, the event audience was asked to vote for their favourite and recognised Arids Garcia Pedrera Gar 1, SLU, with the Public Choice Award for the project ‘Commitment to biodiversity, if there is quarry, there is life’
At the end of the night, César Luaces Frades, ANEFA’s Director General and Secretary General received special recognition from UEPG President Antonis Antoniou Latouros for the outstanding and highly valuable expert contribution to the European aggregates industry, including his involvement in leading several UEPG committees, task forces and working groups.
Former MPA Chief Executive Nigel Jackson also received special recognition from President Latouros and Secretary General Dirk Fincke for his great professionalism, diplomacy and constructive input as UEPG Vice President over the 2012-2022 period.