The industry leading partnership between CEMEX UK and conservation charity, the RSPB, has just celebrated its tenth anniversary. 

Over 1,000 hectares of restored priority habitat later the two organisations held a small celebration in London last week.  A video detailing the partnership and its achievements can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/hWM_Nxk4Qhw

Alongside the 1,000 hectares the RSPB have helped us to develop Biodiversity Action Plans for CEMEX sites. Other achievements of the partnership so far have included work at four central England sites to create habitat and a sustainable food source for the Turtle Dove, which is the country’s fastest-declining bird species; and efforts to protect the rare red-billed Chough at its Raynes quarry.

Standout restoration projects have received nationwide acclaim, such as the Rugeley heathland and Lade Pits quarry in Kent.

CEMEX will continue to work closely with the RSPB towards a series of further targets for priority species conservation and priority habitat creation.

Andy Spencer, VP of Corporate Affairs, Sustainability & ERM for CEMEX Europe, said: “We are very proud of our partnership with the RSPB and what has been achieved over the last 10 years. Not only have we restored a considerable amount of priority habitat across the country together, two years ahead of schedule, but we have also helped a number of rare species.

Conservation is one of the key parts of our ongoing sustainability strategy and this partnership is critical for us to delivery ongoing net gain in biodiversity across our extraction sites so when we complete our work, we are giving more back to society and the environment than was there to start with. We are excited to see what we can achieve together over the next 10 years!”

Beccy Speight, Chief Executive of the RSPB, commented: “Working in partnership with CEMEX we have shown how land can be transformed from being an active quarry into a vibrant home for wildlife and we hope that our experience inspires others to play their part in restoring nature.

Our natural world is in crisis, but by restoring or creating habitats we can often reverse local population declines of threatened species, keeping our common species common and expanding the number of safe havens our wildlife needs across the UK.”