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Wednesday 23 Nov 2011

NETWORK RAIL WINS GOLD, SILVER AND BRONZE AT THE GREEN APPLE AWARDS

Region & Route:

| Southern

The Farringdon project team has won gold in the Green Apple environment awards for its sustainable approach to redeveloping the station into a new transport hub.

The Green Apple Awards began in 1994 and are established as the country’s major accolade for recognising environmental excellence among companies, councils and communities.

Richard Walker, Farringdon project director, said: "We are committed to setting new standards in environmental best practice and sustainable development. We all know that rail is one of the greenest forms of travel, now we are starting to take note of the greenest ways to build its infrastructure. "

The project is now preparing for the first 50% longer, 12-car Thameslink trains to run from 12 December 2012. From 2018 Farringdon will become London’s newest transport hub, the only interchange between the north / south Thameslink and the east / west Crossrail route.

The project won through demonstrating how sustainable development can have both environmental and economic benefits.

· 100% of demolition waste has been diverted from landfill, a cost saving of approximately £365,000 in landfill tax.

· The design of the new ticket hall would have required over 500 tonnes of steel. Instead of conventional steel an eco-reinforced option was chosen, nearly 95% recycled and responsibly sourced.

· Mains powered generators were chosen instead of diesel. Not only did this cut down on air pollution but it also resulted in a cost saving of around £600,000.

· Reusing rubble from demolition removed the need for around 850 lorry movements, saving 30 tonnes of CO2 emissions and around £70,000 on the cost of additional materials.

· A brown roof will contribute 20% towards the borough's new habitat creation target. Without taking into account the long-term benefits of improved insulation the brown roof is also nearly £40,000 cheaper than a zinc roof.

The Blackfriars project received a certificate and bespoke zinc-etched green plaque, celebrating their commitment to sustainability. The plaque features an image of one of the original South Bank cartouches, which is currently being restored.

Network Rail, in partnership with facilities management company MITIE, was also awarded a bronze award for boosting its recycling rate from 23% to 57% in the last 12 months. Network Rail employs around 34,000 people of which 13,000 work in one of our 115 offices and training centres across the country.

These buildings generate about 1,600 tonnes of waste a year. Prior to March 2010 only 23% of that waste was recycled; 12 months later we’d increased that figure to 57%, within touching distance of our target to be recycling 60% of waste by 2014.

This was achieved through a new waste strategy, which made recycling a key priority for all buildings. The strategy included the introduction of waste segregation, the rollout of new central recycling areas in offices and the removal of desk bins.

Head of workplace management, Mike Ward, said: "We have made a step change made in our office recycling; this puts us well on the way to achieving our wider aim of zero landfill and it is great to receive recognition for our efforts from The Green Organisation."