Platinum Sponsor

Blackwell, an Essex-based nationally operating earthworks specialist, is recognised as one of the UK's leading providers of specialist earthmoving contracting and professional services. Established in 1956, Blackwell collaborates with civil engineering contractors and consultants to deliver the UK's most significant infrastructure projects across the transportation, water and power sectors. Since its acquisition by Hargreaves Services PLC in 2016, Blackwell has re-focused its activities towards its traditional skill set of major earthworks on complex schemes such as HS2, Heathrow Expansion, the A14 Improvements and Sizewell C Nuclear Power Station. Blackwell has championed sustainability in earthworks for the last decade. In 2011, alongside the Highways Agency and Arup, Blackwell contributed to a University of Cambridge study into carbon emissions in earthworks that saw the creation of a carbon calculator for earthworks and the publication of a paper in the ICE Proceedings. Most recently, Blackwell's MD, Niall Fraser, reunited with his European peers who worked together for nine years preparing the 2019 European Earthworks Standard EN16907 to prepare a European Code of Practice for Sustainable Earthworks, due for publication in 2023. Niall works alongside Alan Phear from Arup and their counterparts in European. The Code of Practice aims to gather pan-European best-practice to enhance the sustainability of earthworks projects, building upon the fundamentally and inherently sustainable nature of earthworks.