Quarry floor gets new life

Material from the floor of the mothballed quarry at Swinburne was donated to help create a natural roof for Northumberland National Park Authority’s (NNPA) flagship £14.8
million Sill National Landscape Discovery Centre on Hadrian’s Wall, due to open this summer.

“We are establishing grasses and wildflowers on the green roof of the Sill and youth hostel,” said the project landscape architect Phil Barker.

“Swinburne had the right material to achieve the desired pH and free-draining characteristic we were looking for.”

Pine bark was added to the quarry floor soil and it was then mixed with whin chippings – also provided by Heidelberg Materials from Keepershield.

This was spread on the green roof and the first phase of seeding and planting begins this month with a second phase in September.

“Heidelberg Materials was very helpful throughout this process by facilitating quarry access, assisting in carrying out trial pits and, ultimately, in donating the material – particularly appreciated given the tight budget constraints,” said Phil.

Area operations manager John Austin said: “We paid for the machinery to scrape the material off the quarry floor and load it on the trucks. We were delighted to support this important local project.”