Conveyors installed at Roke Manor Quarry

Brand new 800m long conveyor belts have been installed at Roke Manor Quarry to transport the aggregate from the excavation area to the processing plant.

Extracted material at the quarry will now be transported to the processing plant by new overland conveyors to reduce impacts from the heavy plant movements.

The conveyor was installed over a three week period by Atherton Materials Handling Ltd and starts from the current extraction area in phase two and continues through the site.  It travels along the new haul road and under a public footpath to feed straight into the plant hopper, where the plant will continue to process the gravel to produce a range of high-quality aggregate sizes and sand.

The conveyor can take 80-100 tonnes per hour of aggregate and it is significantly quieter and more cost effective than the previous mobile plant movements.  The end of the conveyor which feeds into the hopper can be easily modified and diverted to stockpile within the yard when necessary.

The conveyor also crosses the Test Way footpath, which is regularly used by members of the public and local residents.  In order to keep the footpath open, the site team have installed a bridge which goes over the conveyor so that the footpath could still be used, and a bridle crossing for safe vehicular access through the site.

Raymond Brown picks up prestigious RoSPA Gold Medal for 2017

Raymond Brown are delighted to announce themselves as winners at the RoSPA Health and Safety Awards 2017.

The business achieved the Gold Medal for eight consecutive Golds Awards in the prestigious annual scheme run by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

The award was achieved during a special year for family-safety charity RoSPA, as it celebrates its centenary.

Through the RoSPA Awards scheme, which is open to businesses and organisations of all types and sizes from across the UK and overseas, judges consider entrants’ overarching occupational health and safety management systems, including practices such as leadership and workforce involvement.

Julia Small, RoSPA’s head of awards and events, said: “The RoSPA Awards are the most prestigious in the world of occupational health and safety, and held in high regard around the world, as winning one demonstrates an organisation’s commitment to maintaining an excellent health and safety record. Achieving the standard required is no mean feat.

“This is a special year in the history of RoSPA, and we congratulate all of our winners in this, our centenary year”.

The majority of awards are non-competitive and mark achievement at merit, bronze, silver and gold levels. Gold medals, president’s awards and orders of distinction are presented to organisations sustaining the high standards of the gold level over consecutive years.

For more information about the RoSPA Awards visit www.rospa.com/awards

Nature After Minerals Event at Binnegar Quarry

As part of a Nature After Minerals (NAM) event looking at invertebrate and early pioneer species conservation through biodiversity-led minerals restoration, Raymond Brown recently welcomed a group of minerals restoration stakeholders to Binnegar Quarry, in Dorset.

The morning session of the event considered how, in working to create priority habitats to link up with local fragmented habitats on a landscape scale, early to mid-term succession habitat evolution can also help support important pioneer species that are vital for a healthy ecosystem.

In the afternoon, event attendees from the minerals industry, local authorities, statutory bodies, minerals planners and ecological and planning consultants took part in a site visit to the quarry, where Raymond Brown employees and ecological consultants were on hand to showcase the work being undertaken on the site’s 8ha Blue Area.

This area, which is being restored with nature firmly in mind, is helping provide a refuge for invertebrates and pioneer species in the early stages of its restoration to heathland, interspersed with ephemeral ponds and bare scrapes.

Rob Westell, Raymond Brown’s Estates and Planning Director, commented: ‘We were delighted to host our second NAM event at Binnegar Quarry, to demonstrate the restoration of the site.

‘Lowland heathland is a top priority habitat in Dorset, and the site, which contains some heathland, adjoins a heathland Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), benefiting priority butterfly, reptile and bird species, and facilitating their colonization.’

NAM’s events and communications officer, Debra Royal, said: ‘At a time when research shows nature is in trouble and many species are in rapid decline, biodiversity-led minerals restoration can help. We were delighted to have an opportunity to visit Binnegar Quarry to view yet another instance of minerals restoration work helping nature on the ground.’