Biodiversity Northern Ireland

A brand new custom-built web portal together with sustainability training resources for the quarrying sector has gone online.  Branded as NI Quarry Portal it delivers sustainability to the quarrying sector demonstrating leadership from a range of partners from education institutions to the industry itself. The NI Quarry Portal was funded by the Department of Employment and Learning. It was developed by the South West College (SWC) InnoTech Centre, Quarry Products Association NI (QPANI) and the extractives sector skills council Proskills. Launched at the QPANI Members' Environment Day in October, Laverne Bell informed the audience "This unique partnership project exemplifies how learning and understanding of sustainability issues specific to an industry, along with the right tools can assist local companies (large and small) to integrate social, environment and economic considerations into their everyday operations".

This year QPANI decided to revive the annual Environmental Conference agenda and take members away from a formal setting, but most of all, to witness achievement on the ground on areas such as biodiversity, environmental protection, planning and look closer at the future of renewable energy. The excursion event brought together quarry staff, quarry agents, mineral planners and guests from Proskills, Queens University's Centre for Archaeology Fieldwork and the environmental reporter from the Belfast Telegraph.