Biodiversity and Stakeholder Engagement in the DEFRA Contract

Business: Carillion Facilities Management

Date: 2007 - ongoing

Location: Rhydymwyn, Wales

Business benefits included excelled levels of customer satisfaction achieved, experience of stakeholder dialogue, customer and Carillion reputation was enhanced and we were able to develop and gain knowledge on biodiversity through experts used throughout.

Community Benefits included the provision of additional resource and green space to the community. Community stakeholders were involved in dialogue and the provision of educational resources was made.

Carillion Facilities Management (CFM) has provided facilities management services to the Rhydymwym site, since 1992. The site is Crown property and forms part of the DEFRA Estate. The estate was previously a purpose-built overground and underground chemical weapons facility, constructed in 1938, to manufacture mustard gas munitions. Following a major flood of the Alyn River in 2000, it was evident that the local community was unhappy about the perceived nature of the site. DEFRA took the decision to open up a dialogue with the community, leading to a decision to transform the site into a public accessed nature reserve, providing added value to the local village. The large munitions manufacturing buildings were collapsed within their building footprints and covered with local topsoil, with the aim of promoting local flora and fauna. This prevented the adverse environmental impacts of waste transportation and subsequent landfill. It also reduced the risks associated with the transport of waste in lorries, through the small village.

One of the greatest aspects of this project is the involvement of the local community and the use of the Rhydymwyn facility for educational needs. Following local group consultation, through Friends of the Valley and a Joint Consultative Board, Carillion has engaged the North East Wales Wildlife Trust, to develop an ecologically-based management plan for the site. A primary objective for the management plan was the promotion of the site for educational purposes, both for local interest groups and schools. The involvement of schools visiting the site satisfies parts of the National Curriculum.

To facilitate the education bias of the site, a redundant building was refurbished to accommodate school site projects, which includes audio-visual equipment, together with tea making facilities, toilets and background heating. The site had largely been returned to nature, over the last two decades and, as such, areas not accessed via the site roads were difficult to explore. With this in mind, it was decided to build a woodland path. To aid access, certain parts of the path had ground steps constructed and in other areas, boardwalks were required. All timber for these works had to be sourced from local sustainable resources.

The walk was designed so that the site and wetlands could be viewed in addition to specific local aspects such as badger hides, bat boxes and snake trails. During the last few winters, following the demolition works, it was noticed that water collected on the former footprints of one or two of the very large manufacturing buildings. It was decided that these water-capturing properties could be enhanced and so provide a wetland that would attract local amphibians, insects and plant life.

Ecologically, the site is a unique asset to the local community and nature watch and educational walks and talks are actively encouraged. Specialist archaeologists were engaged to provide a report to help CFM to manage the surviving buildings. The findings of the extensive survey highlighted that the buildings are not only of regional importance, but many are nationally important and a few are of ‘international significance’. This led to a number of public meetings with the local community to share the findings. The local community has relished the presentations organised and indeed requested more!