Worcestershire Parkway Railway Station has been given a top environmental assessment award from a national body.
SLC Rail collated this application and assessment for Worcestershire County Council, along with support from Mott MacDonald and Buckingham Group.
From left – right Jon Fraser (Worcestershire County Council), Melanie Manton (BREEAM) and Nathan Godley (SLC Rail).
The station, which opened in February 2020, was presented with a Civil Engineering Environmental Quality Assessment Award (CEEQUAL) and rated as ‘very good’ for being committed to sustainable working and delivering lasting impacts to the local area.
Elements of the project that were highlighted include re-using materials from the project on site and improvements made to the local water environment through the use of better, managed drainage.
Councillor Marc Bayliss, Cabinet Member for Economy, Infrastructure and Skills, said: “Sustainability was a key factor throughout the design and construction phases of the Worcestershire Parkway Railway Station project.
“The station has helped to reduce road congestion, and this has been considered through every stage of development. We also demonstrated in the submission how other benefits can be achieved, such as alleviating flooding and improving biodiversity.”
Nathan Godley, Project Manager at SLC Rail, is an accredited assessor for CEEQUAL. He said: “A major driver for creating Worcestershire Parkway was a commitment to improving connections for the community and enhancing the local environment.
“It has been very rewarding to complete the CEEQUAL assessment and show how we’ve delivered a best-in-class project and how we are leaving a lasting positive legacy for the local community.”
Worcestershire Parkway Railway Station forms part of the county’s rail investment programme and is a key part of the longer-term Worcestershire Rail Investment Strategy.
The station, managed by Great Western Railway (GWR), provides sustainable access to regional and national destinations by rail, including the south-west, north-east, London and the Thames Valley. It is also significantly enhancing Worcestershire’s connectivity with the UK’s key economies and encouraging economic growth and development within the county.
CEEQUAL is a world-leading sustainability assessment. It exists to drive sustainability performance across the industry and is passionate about doing so and by following an evidence-based assessment it helps to improve standards in sustainability and contribute to the sustainable development agenda. It’s an evidence-based sustainability assessment, rating and awards scheme for civil engineering, infrastructure, landscaping and public realm project. The scheme operates alongside the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) – bringing together the world’s leading sustainability assessment methods for buildings, master planning and infrastructure.
It covers a broad spectrum of areas for assessment including project management, people and communities, land use and landscape, historic environment, ecology and biodiversity, water environment, physical resources use, and management and transport. Each of these areas requires the project to collate evidence against a number of questions.
Here is more information about the CEEQUAL award.
