Lincolnshire firm shortlisted for 5 national awards for greener road surfacing

Road surfacing firm, Minster Surfacing has been shortlisted for five major national awards in recognition of its efforts to recycle and cut the carbon footprint of its work.

Minster Surfacing, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, is a finalist for three BusinessGreen Leaders Awards and for two National Recycling Awards.

Last year, the company won regional awards for its commitment to green technology and innovation. These included Best Business and Overall Winner of the Lincolnshire Environmental Awards 2018 and the Innovation in Construction Award at the Lincolnshire Innovation & Technology Awards 2018.

Both of these national awards celebrate businesses and organisations that demonstrate a commitment to sustainability and the environment: The National Recycling Awards recognise and celebrate best practice and innovation in recycling and waste management, while the BusinessGreen Leaders Awards are recognised as the UK's most prestigious and high profile green business awards.

In the BusinessGreen Leaders Awards on the 26th June, Minster Surfacing is shortlisted for:

• Circular Economy Project of the Year
• Small Business of the Year

Meanwhile, Minster Surfacing’s co-founder and Managing Director, Bruce Spencer-Knott is shortlisted for Entrepreneur of the Year.

In the National Recycling Awards on the 27th June, Minster Surfacing is shortlisted for:

• Smarter Systems (Efficiency Award)
• Waste Reduction Initiative – Commercial Sector

James Murray, the editor of BusinessGreen said:

“The BusinessGreen Leaders Awards are the UK’s premier awards for those businesses that are committed to advancing the green economy and tackling the environmental challenges we all face. Now in their ninth year, the awards were more competitive than ever with a record number of entries from many of the UK’s leading blue chip firms and exciting green start-ups and all the short listed companies have stood out for their pioneering environmental efforts and their inspiring work to embrace clean technologies and greener business models.”

Minter Surfacing has earned a reputation for its commitment to using green technology and innovations to improve the way the company works and to reduce the impact that road surfacing has on the environment.

Minster is one of the first companies in the UK to be using technology which enables it to recycle the material that’s removed from old roads so it can be reused on-site to create new surfaces. Crucially, this technology also enables it to recycle road material containing coal-tar, which can cost councils up to £100 per tonne to safely send to landfill. Currently, the company recycles around 50% of the material it handles, although it has ambitious plans to significantly increase this in future.

Alongside this, the company uses high-tech vehicle-mounted laser scanning technology to quickly and accurately measure surfaces, creating computer aided designs and instructions for new surfaces to reduce waste and improve quality. The company also uses GPS tracking and temperature monitoring to guarantee quality and reduce waste further.

Recently, the company has been using additional road material to create durable farm tracks, industrial yards and car parks that are 100% recycled and almost as high quality as new roads.

These green innovations have prevented hundreds of thousands of tonnes of material from being sent to landfill and they have significantly reduced the need more mineral aggregate to be quarried or oil to be extracted and transported to create new surfaces.

Managing Director of Bruce Spencer-Knott said:

“We were thrilled to be recognised regionally for our green innovations last year, and since then, we’ve developed and refined our processes further so we can reduce waste and recycle at every stage of the construction process. Now, we’re up against some big, well-known companies for some of the most prestigious green business awards in the country, which is amazing. I couldn’t be more proud of my team and grateful to our clients for their willingness to embrace new technology and new ways of working.

“People think that road surfacing is a dirty, pollutive, old-fashioned industry, but we’re demonstrating that it can be a modern, high-tech and green aspect of civil engineering and construction. It’s an honour to be shortlisted for these awards; fingers crossed that they’ll soon be taking pride of place in our trophy cabinet!”

Alongside supply chain partners, Minster Surfacing works on roads across Lincolnshire on behalf of Lincolnshire County Council, as well as roads in Cambridgeshire on behalf of Cambridgeshire County Council. The company is a trusted supplier to the Ministry of Defence and works on MOD bases and RAF stations across the country and it also works with major developers for commercial and residential developments. Recently, the company has been supporting the construction of the Lincoln Eastern Bypass and the creation of new facilities at the Port of Killingholme in preparation for Brexit.

You can find out more about Minster Surfacing at www.minstersurfacing.co.uk