Greening the regeneration of Stirling

The regeneration and reconstruction of Stirling's suburb of Raploch has become one of WRAP's (Waste and Resources Action Programme) trailblazer sites, using high quality compost in its regeneration.

Raploch is currently undergoing a major renaissance, and prior demolition works have left areas of the site covered with a thin layer of reclaimed, poor quality soils.

The regeneration involves demolishing and rebuilding the town, including housing for the local community.

To ensure that soils for domestic gardens and communal back-courts are of high enough quality, the site will use up to 250 tonnes of BSI PAS 100:2005 compost to demonstrate the feasibility of improving existing soil resources.

The regeneration of Raploch is being undertaken by Stirling Council, Raploch URC which is being supported by the Scottish Government, the R3 consortium (made up of Cruden Homes (East) and George Wimpey East Scotland ) and the Raploch Community Enterprise.

The partners decided that they wanted to regenerate the land in a sustainable and cost effective way, avoiding the traditional method of exporting low quality topsoil and subsoils from the site, and importing new topsoil.

Through Andrew Hipkin, the soil scientist for the project, the partners signed up to WRAP's trailblazer programme, which is designed to help developers, designers and contractors realise the financial and environmental benefits of specifying high quality compost in brownfield projects.

Enhanced community support manager at Raploch URC , Judy Barrow explained: "The reason we chose to get involved in WRAP's trailblazer programme and use high quality compost in the site's regeneration is that it allows for the salvage and re-use of existing poor quality soil within this urban re-development".

"Community involvement is a key component to the successful delivery of this regeneration project and it is intended that the installation of the trial plots at the site will be undertaken by a community group".

"The trial plots will incorporate compost, sourced from Scottish Water's facility at Deerdykes, at various rates prior to the establishment of wildflowers".

Pilot projects at other sites conducted in conjunction with WRAP which look at the benefits of using quality PAS 100 compost as a soil improver, have shown significant improvement in both cost efficiencies and the quality of the soils.

In some cases, costs have been reduced by over 50 per cent*.

Technical benefits of using PAS 100 compost to improve soil conditions include improvements in: * nutrient and organic matter content; * soil structure; and * water retention capacity The BSI PAS 100:2005 certification means that the compost, which is produced from source segregated green waste such as grass cuttings, prunings and leaves, has been manufactured to a consistent high quality level and is also safe, reliable and sustainable.

Paul Mathers, WRAP's Programme Manager - Landscape and Regeneration, said: "Previous trials have shown that using locally sourced PAS 100 quality compost as a soil improver, not only saves transportation and landfill costs, but also produces high quality, fertile soil for sustainable landscaping".

"It is also hoped that using compost enriched soils within a domestic context could set an important precedent for the house building industry in the UK.

Traditionally, mineral resources are not often appreciated as being beneficial input materials for soils - which could be manufactured rather than sourced from natural reserves".

Martin Hensman, Strategic Land Manager for George Wimpey UK , said: "This is just the type of initiative that George Wimpey wishes to support and endorse".

"We'll closely monitor the WRAP trailblazer, and the findings will be used to determine how easily we can replicate the use of compost as a replacement for imported top-soil on future developments throughout the UK".

For more information on how BSI PAS 100:2005 compost can help reduce the cost of brownfield regeneration projects, contact Paul Mathers at WRAP.

*refers to published results of the regeneration of the Royal Ordnance Factory, Chorley (Restoring the land with compost report, published by WRAP.

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