Posted on 24th Feb
Newark-based manufacturer Centrum Pile and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust are continuing their collaboration to protect wildlife in the town.
Centrum Pile’s established corporate partnership with the trust funds wildlife conservation work at Beacon Hill, a 19-hectare nature reserve.
Since 2001 Beacon Hill Conservation Park has been managed by the trust, providing protected habitats for wildlife and recreation for visitors.
The site is situated at the outskirts of Newark and used to be a gypsum mine, but is nowadays teeming with life.
Extensive tree plantings together with protected natural habitats have created a mix of woodland, scrub, hedgerows, wildflower meadows and grassland.
The site hosts a variety of bird species from Buzzards to Skylarks and Meadow Pipits, as well as a significant amount of wildflowers including Primrose, Red and White Clover, Yarrow and Wild Clematis. In the summer months the meadows feed the larvae of a variety of butterflies. One of the highlights of the year at Beacon Hill is seeing Brown Argus, Red Admiral, Small Copper, Essex Skipper and Common Blue flying above the wildflower meadows.
The partnership between Centrum Pile and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust provides a combination of funds and skill to carry out continuous conservation work at the reserve.
Tasks include clearing overgrown vegetation to open up the woodland glades to let more light in, and encourage more low lying woodland plants to thrive. Paths are opened up to make the site more accessible for visitors. There will also be an element of wildflower meadow management, enhancing the habitat for butterflies.
The corporate partnership reflects the environmental responsibility that is one of Centrum Pile’s values. The UK’s leading and most advanced manufacturer of continuously reinforced, precast concrete piles is now recycling 100% of its waste generated at the Newark-based site.
The company has also started collecting rainwater from the roof of the concrete curing chamber, saving over 90,000 litres per week, and covering 50% of the water needed for the concrete production on site.
Paul Pendleton, director at Centrum Pile, said: “We’ve been working really hard improving our green credentials and reducing our impact on the environment.
“We’re very proud of the fact we have reduced our cement consumption by partial replacement with pulverised fly ash which would otherwise be a waste material and also we’ve recently managed to ensure that 100% of our waste (which is minimal) produced is recycled either on site or by others.”
