Jamie Edmonds, Kier Utilities
Project nominated for: The Bristol Water Southern Strategic Support Main (SSSM)
Nominated by: Tom Conway, Kier Contract/Operations Manager for SSSM
Jamie's nominator tells us why he was nominated:
Engaging
Jamie identified an opportunity to contribute to the conservation of owls and hawks by erecting nest boxes.
Through engagement with the Hawk and Owl Trust and landowners 40 nest boxes have been installed on
the project. The boxes were made and installed by local school and college students under Jamie’s guidance.
Inspiring
Jamie, through his passion for biodiversity, inspires all those around him, including the Bath Spa University
Environmental Science degree students who he allowed to use the project as a study site for their
Environmental Consultancy module, acting as their mentor. After working with Jamie two students were
inspired to join Kier full time!
Enthusiastic
Jamie, together with his team, arranged for children from inner city schools to spend time on the project, planting trees to improve the connectivity between existing areas of fragmented woodland and provide habitat for dormice. This was in collaboration with Bristol City Council’s One Tree per Child Project who stated all of those involved in this project were infected by Jamie’s enthusiasm.
Creative
In one village residents were concerned that the installation of the pipeline would damage a bee orchid colony that had become established in local road verges, managed to encourage growth of this orchid. Jamie arranged for the temporary removal of the turf containing the orchids and subsequent reinstatement on completion of the pipeline, which has proved successful.
Knowledgeable
Jamie’s involvement with Spawn to be Wild, a collaboration between Kier, Bristol Water and the Avon Wildlife Trust, increased his biodiversity knowledge which he has shared, talking to schools about freshwater ecology, specifically in relation to the endangered European eel and helping students care for tanks of juvenile eels before releasing them into the wild.
How Jamie has gone the extra mile to enrich and enhance biodiversity on this project…
I have worked with Jamie on the Bristol Water Southern Strategic Support Main project and have always been impressed with his knowledge of, and passion for, biodiversity and wildlife. Species benefiting from his intervention vary from orchids to dormice and eels to barn owls.
His ability to collaborate and communicate with our client, landowners, charities, local communities, schools and the Kier team is what ensures the success and longevity of the initiatives to enhance biodiversity on this project. Jamie leads by example and his enthusiasm for “all things biodiversity” continues to inspire Kier employees and many others to do their bit for biodiversity.
