Stone is vital to our modern economy and lifestyle. Construction
of houses, hospitals, schools, shops and offices; roads railways
and airports consumes large quantities of stone ('aggregate').
Although increasing amounts of low-grade aggregate are recycled
from demolition waste and other materials, natural rocks such
as limestone, granite and sand and gravel are the only viable
source of the high-quality aggregate required to build safely
and affordably. These vital natural raw materials are worked
from quarries.
Stone quarries have been part of the English landscape for
hundreds of years. Their presence inevitably causes impacts
on the environment and on the lives of people living close
by.
However,
careful management and restoration, both during and after working,
can minimise the impact on neighbours and improve the environment
in and around quarry sites. This unique interactive CD-ROM
allows you to explore the effects of different types of restoration
on contrasting 'virtual' quarries. Features include the ability
to accelerate time to assess the impact of tree growth, or
move around a realistic 3 dimensional model to examine a landscaped
area from different viewpoints. The virtual quarries are linked
to pages of further information on quarry restoration issues,
from biodiversity to water management. These pages draw on
real life examples of good restoration practice and illustrate
the possibilities for maximising positive impacts both during
and after quarrying.
