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The completion of a ten-year landscape art project, the Place of Origin, has been marked with an official opening by the Duke of Kent. The project, designed to celebrate the quarrying of granite and influence of the Scottish stone industry, focuses on the Kemnay quarry in Aberdeenshire which is owned by Aggregate Industries. It includes the creation of a woodland area and observation hill. Three artists, led by John Maine RA, worked closely on the project and chose to make the landscape into artwork, using 100,000 tons of granular materials rather than create individual pieces of sculpture.

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Forming a section of Aggregate Industries office complex, Old Hill Farm has been refurbished and redeveloped as part of the company's plan to restore the building. Using products supplied by Charcon, Bardon Aggregates and Bradstone, and with the approval of the Environmental Agency, the exterior walls were repaired rather than demolished, and the brickwork of the farmhouse pointed up and pressure washed to removing existing dirt. Wherever possible the company managed to retain the building's original features.

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Minimising the impact of a new 6000m car park, a sustainable urban drainage system from Charcon has been specified by Wirral Borough Council. The new 'park and ride' is part of a ?1.26 million set of measures to assist the council on the influx of visitors for the Royal Open Golf Championship. Due to the permeability of the soil and restrictions on discharging water into the existing drainage, the company developed a system that would replicate the natural infiltration of surface water into the water course. This required the level of the car park to be elevated to increase the capacity for controlled drainage, using the company's open granular sub-base to delay the speed at which rainwater enters the watercourse. Infilta block paving was selected for the surface of the parking areas, allowing ingress of water through the storage system.

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Flag and block paving ranges from Charcon have been installed at the Technium Swansea building. The company supplied it's Parliament block paving in grey and charcoal as well as Countryside kerb. Appalachian Black Fleck flag which is designed to replicate the appearance of natural granite was also installed. The latter product also has the additional benefit of providing both an environmentally friendly and cost effective solution.

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In partnership with Nottingham City Council, hard landscaping specialist Charcon has received an award for design excellence and innovation from Interpave, the Precast Concrete and Kerb Association. The award was for the transformation of Maid Marian Way which was judged to be the fourth worst 'Street of Shame' three years ago in a campaign run by CABE and Radio 4. Improvements included the replacement of subways with surface level crossings, tree planting, new lighting, seating and hard landscaping.

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Hard landscaping specialist Charcon has supplied 500m of natural stone block paving as part of the ongoing maintenance of Shrewsbury town centre. Reclaimed Yorkstone flags laid some 20 years ago had been significantly damaged by the use of heavy delivery vehicles in the town centre. In order to reduce maintenance, improve safety and maintain the aesthetics, the replacement stone block paving was chosen in line with the medieval town centre environment. After trials by the Council of small element setts on a number of road crossings, Charcon supplied its 75mm thick Moorland Yorkstone tumbled setts in random sizes for a rustic aesthetic. With precision cutting for tighter tolerances, the product has a variety of colours. The company has also supplied sandstone kerbing for a number of traffic calming and maintenance projects in the area.

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Flagstones from Charcon's Ecopave range have been selected for the replacement of a pavement on the high street in Sevenoaks, Kent. Manufactured at low cost to the environment, the stones are textured for a granite-like appearance in keeping with the exisiting street design and architecture. For kerb appeal, the new pavement also includes charcoal Europa paving blocks capable of handling heavy traffic movement and can be lifted for access to services and reinstated without leaving repair scars. The Eco range of hard landscaping paving and kerb products uses recycled by-products, from quarrying and manufacturing, as raw materials for precast concrete products. The only virgin resource used is cement, which has been partially substituted for waste materials. Aggregate, sand, and other constituents have been either recycled or are a waste material. The filter medium used in the process utilises recycled paper too.

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An outdoor sports surfacing designed to maximise the performance of both disabled and able bodied athletes has been developed by Bardon Aggregates. Working closely with the British Paralympic Association, the company has developed the Bardon PlayAble surface course which, unlike conventional asphalt materials, more easily accommodates the sudden change in direction of wheelchairs. Bardon Aggregates discovered that smaller-sized aggregate created less resistance between wheelchair wheels and surfacing. As a result, a 0-4mm single-sized aggregate was chosen for use in the asphalt product. The material has been designed to be free-draining, allowing it to be used in all weathers without performance being affected. Unlike some painted surfaces, the pigmented, virtually clear binder does not affect the porosity of the material.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Aggregate Industries Uk Ltd directly for further details.