The Institute of Environmental Science (IES) was established in 1995 and is located at the University of Wales, Bangor which has an annual turnover in excess of £64 million a year (90 million ECU). IES unifies the expertise in environmental issues in the area. It has the highest concentration of environmental experts and one of the most comprehensive environmental units in any one European location, thus achieving its international reputation. One of the key goals of IES is technology transfer to the local community and so it is involved in environmentally based projects in collaboration with a number of local companies including Eastmann Chemicals Ltd, PPM Ltd, Hyder Environmental, Cell Path, J.W. Greaves and Sons, Welsh Water and the municipal waste company Cwmni Gwastraff Mon-Arfon Cyfyngedig. IES offers expertise in site survey, plant ecology, environmental monitoring, water resource management, soil science, land restoration, polymer technology, chemical analysis, environmental interpretation and economics, participatory environmental assessment and management. IES staff are also experienced in the management of large scale projects of an environmental nature.

IES will provide the expert knowledge and be responsible for the overall coordination of the programme and the financial management of the tasks. IES also houses the state-of-the-art analytical facilities required for this project. The IES personnel involved in this project and their relevant expertise are:

Prof. Mark Baird - Project manager
Dr John Healey - Forest regeneration and ecological monitoring
Dr Davey Jones - Environmental monitoring, applied plant ecology & plant soil interactions
Dr Peter Holliman - Development of polyacrylamide gel technology
Dr Graham Mayhead - Tree establishment and protection, arboriculture
Dr Jeremy Williams - Geographical information systems and upland ecology
Dr Cledwyn Hughes - Socio-economic impact assessment
Prof Gareth Edwards Jones - Biodiversity, environmental economics and conservation management

In addition, IES also aims to employ one external contract person (namely Prof. John Good from the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology-Bangor) who has an international reputation for his work in the reclamation of coal waste, biodiversity evaluation and restoration of upland sites.

Since 1966, McAlpine Slate Ltd has owned the Penrhyn slate quarry which employs over 200 people and is the largest of its kind in Europe and one of the largest in the world. The quarry was established over 200 years ago and has a accumulated a very extensive area of slate waste over this time. The site is environmentally important because it is adjacent to two important SSSIs and a national nature reserve containing the most important UK populations of a number of rare arctic-alpine plants. The lower altitude parts of the site are also important because they are dominated by several woodland types rare in Europe (e.g. Sessile Oak - Downy Birch - Dicranium Moss Woodland (W17)).

McAlpine Slate is committed to the sustainable restoration of the site and has budgeted ca. £3M over the next 25 years for this purpose. The key interest for the Company in this project is the demonstration of an accelerated and cost effective regeneration method which can be applied to the remaining slate tips at Penrhyn Quarry as well as its newly acquired Blaenau Ffestiniog quarry. McAlpine Slate also part owns the Slate Ecology Company which is responsible for the environmental management of both sites. The McAlpine Slate staff directly involved in this project are:

Chris Law - Managing Director of McAlpine Slate Ltd
Geraint Roberts - Operations Manager

The Slate Ecology Company Ltd was formed in 1996 and is partly owned by McAlpine Slate Ltd In 1993, McAlpine Slate Ltd examined the ecological implications of a proposed extension to Penrhyn Quarry. This report formed part of an environmental impact statement accompanying McAlpine Slate’s planning application for an extension to the working area of the quarry. The SEC is involved in the implementation of the ecological proposals that accompanied the extension of the quarry mainly with respect to the restoration of the waste slate tips that had accumulated during the previous 150 years. SEC has an extensive expertise in the following areas: landscape design, preparation of environmental impact assessments and statements, ground restoration schemes and the evaluation of local, national and international policies. They are involved in the restoration of highway and development sites, sand and gravel extraction quarries, crushed rock quarries and slate quarries. The key members of SEC involved in this project are:

Gwynedd Council are the local authority responsible for the area which includes Penrhyn Quarry and many smaller disused slate quarries. GC also act as the minerals planning authority for the area. They will therefore be in a position to offer restoration advice to all quarries in the area through the "best practice" manual produced at the end of the programme. Indeed, the authority is currently involved in the Slate Valleys Initiative which is seeking to reduce the socio-economic impact of the decline of the industry and they see this programme as complementing this initiative. GC are also committed to enhancing and improving the environment while maintaining and promoting tourism and industry within the area. They have long standing expertise in environmental management, community interactions, promotion of tourism and leisure and dissemination of resources to other local authorities. The GC staff members involved in this project are:

Close contact will be maintained with the following organisations who have expressed interest in the work (see attached supporting letters); Forestry Commission, the National Park Authority and the Welsh Development Agency. These will form important, additional dissemination pathways.