Old Hampole Quarry 

Client: Environment Agency
Value: £300,000
Location: Doncaster

Galliford Try provided a sustainable engineering solution on this three ha disused limestone quarry and former railway cutting, resulting in being commended in the category for the Most Sustainable Remediation Project at the Brownfield Briefing Remediation Innovation Awards.

Between the 1970s and the 1990s, the site was subjected to the uncontrolled dumping of approximately 23,000 tonnes of tyres – the stockpile was considered to be one of the largest tyre dumps in Europe and posed a significant risk of combustion, which in turn would release toxic contaminants into the air and groundwater.

It was declared a special site and the Environment Agency initiated remediation in two phases. In the first phase, Morrison Construction reduced the level of the tyres by removing, shredding and recycling them locally. The second phase delivered a sustainable engineering solution involving the re-profiling the remaining tyres into a regular shape. The specifically designed cover was engineered to comprise a layer of geogrid membrane, a layer of inert waste shale from a local source and completed with a layer of local limestone. A total of 12,350 tonnes of shale was recycled and aggregates were transported by local sources, restoring this quarry and acting as a valuable ecological habitat.