April 2009
CL:AIRE celebrated its 10th birthday at a House of Lords anniversary lunch on 23 March and Halcrow joined with National Grid and the Homes and Communities Agency as joint sponsor to help mark the event.
CL:AIRE is a not-for-profit organisation established to stimulate the sustainable regeneration of contaminated land in the UK.
Hosted by the Rt Hon Baroness Dean of Thornton-Le-Fylde, some 30 leading figures representing most sectors of land management from industry, policy, regulation, the law, insurance and contracting attended the landmark lunch.
Doug Laidler, chief scientist of our contaminated land group team represented Halcrow. His involvement with CL:AIRE stretches back to the initial vision for its creation in the 1990s. With two co-authors Doug managed and co-ordinated the feasibility study and associated business plan which motivated government support for its formation.
To mark our commitment to practising and advancing the development of sustainable good practice and quality in contaminated land management Doug opened the welcoming formalities offering his perspectives of CL:AIRE’s achievements.
CL:AIRE’s current chairman attended, Steve Smith, Welsh Assembly Government’s head of land reclamation, spoke at the event, as well as Gareth Llewelyn, Anglo American’s global head of safety and sustainable development who presented his vision for CL:AIRE’s future.
Commenting on the impact that CL:AIRE has achieved, Doug Laidler said:
“Halcrow is delighted to support CL:AIRE’s activities, which are gaining an ever increasing reputation internationally as well as in the UK. One of its original objectives was to be an advert for UK expertise on the international stage and there’s no doubt the groundwork is in place.
I know at first hand how impressed the international community is with CL:AIRE’s ability to achieve real results by drawing together so many interest groups within a common aim.
Halcrow wishes CL:AIRE well for its next decade and hopes to continue to play a full part in its future.”
An anniversary brochure is being circulated, both nationally and internationally, to MPs and MEPs, as well as to CL:AIRE’s regular contacts.