Coleman’s second category win of the evening was gained by a simple idea: washing the spoil dug up by its excavation business and recycling it.
Winner
Coleman + Company (Management)
The idea, which was intended to take advantage of grant aid from the government’s Waste Resource Action Programme, was to take prescreened material and wash it to remove material not suitable for construction. Coleman researched the idea for 18 months. It travelled across Europe to search for suitable plant, picked the brains of key suppliers and eventually came up with a process for grading spoil into differently sized materials, from clay to 40 mm aggregate. A complex combination of powerscreens, log washers and air knives subdivides the material ready for recycling in future projects. The process was tested at Coleman + Company’s Park Central project in Birmingham, where 200,000 m3 of contaminated material was dealt with, and 98% of it was recycled.
Coleman’s aggregate produced from excavated spoil
Runners-up
Billington Structures
This company has developed its own protection system to prevent falls from height. It came up with “easi-edge”, a simple and lightweight structure that is bolted to pre-drilled holes or clamped to the steelwork prior to erection. The next step is to extend the idea to pedestrian barriers, site barriers and heavy-duty traffic barriers.
Elliott Thomas
All too often projects are let down by the paper-system used to organise deliveries. Elliott Thomas realised a software application was needed to plan the whole process. The result is Deliver E-Manager, which allows the site contractor to arrange material to be delivered on specific days. It can also detect hazardous material.
Lakesmere
Lakesmere, which designs and installs the complete building envelope, has been busy creating off-site products such as Unitwall, a prefabricated lightweight framed wall unit that can be assembled 10 times faster than a conventional wall, a modular standing seam roof system, the 3D modelling software that was used to design Welsh assembly roof.
Schneider GB
This cladding contractor has developed what may well be the world’s first unitised interlocking timber frame curtain walling system. This totally bespoke product was used on the Roche Products headquarters, an office development in Welwyn Garden City. Clearly this is a firm with an ability to think creatively and laterally.
Speedy Hire
Speedy Hire has racked its brains to find an answer to the problem of falls from height. It came up with a communications programme called Safety from the Ground Up. It’s being marketed across the UK and already the firm has received 3000 enquiries, has handed out tens of thousands of the information packs, and Speedy has backed it all up by investing £1m in safety equipment.
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