Ecological impact is an important issue challenging the UK Construction industry with environmental regulations influencing construction consents, construction practice, asset valuation and occupiers use. Acknowledged donation to the Green Quarry Concrete Fund in connection with a project can support Developers improve all four of these critical aspects of their asset's life cycle. Within a short time, it is intended that GQC will become a de facto expectation within UK contractor specifications, as much as FSC certification has become for the supply of timber.
Quarry owners are often doing their bit to manage the ecological impacts of their operations, particularly when it comes to post operation restoration. Active ecological enhancement would also support quarry owners with permissions, community engagement and supply chain audits. However, the vast majority of quarry managers cannot afford the expert advice they need nor the independent verification of their efforts during the active phase of their quarrying operations. The Green Quarry Concrete Fund aims to support the transition to verifiable ecologicial enhancement of all UK RMX aggregate supplying quarries, whether large integrated businesses or smaller independents, through the proportional re-imbursement of Quarry owner expenses. This would create the next chapter in the industry's ecological story.
Making a Difference
While RMX aggregate only accounts for 20% of the quarried aggregate in the UK, its use within 2 hrs of production means that quarries have to be located throughout the UK to support RMX supply. About 5% of RMX aggregate quarries have certified active ecological enhancement plans in operation. This means that a majority of quarries still need to be verified before the supply chain will be in a position to specify affordable Green Quarry Concrete without a price or carbon premium. There are two types of quarry: Crushed rock and Gravel. Specification of RMX means that there is little opportunity to substitute recycled aggregates within optimum carbon RMX production. There are exemplar ecologically enhanced operational sites and many disused quarries that have been restored to become nature reserves open to the public.
Approximately 65-75% of the aggregate used in Ready Mix Concrete is quarried within 30 miles of its use, with some 450 British quarries involved in this supply chain. This represents one of the largest off-site ecological impacts for new developments and infrastructure in the UK. The Green Quarry Concrete Fund offers a route for developers to directly mitigate their off-site ecological impacts at UK quarries and have their contributions acknowledged. Quarries lie at the top of a competitive Ready Mix Concrete supply chain with less than 5% currently affording ongoing ecological enhancement processes that are being independently verified. In 2012, the UK Aggregate Levy was subsumed entirely in to the funding of the public purse. It is intended that by 2018 Green Quarry Concrete will be a de facto standard, non-price premium specification within the UK.
