By 2025-04-23T04:26:00+01:00 Cherry Growers Australia (CGA) has named Penny Measham as its new Chief Executive Officer Penny brings an “impressive depth of experience” to the role “She is widely respected within the Australian and international horticulture community and has a long-standing connection to the cherry industry,” it said in a statement CGA president Alison Jones said the appointment marked an exciting new chapter for the organisation “We’re thrilled to welcome Penny Measham as the new CEO of CGA It is a real privilege to have someone of her calibre step into the role,” she commented is dedicated to cherries and passionate about working with CGA to achieve industry’s vision I’m sure that growers and industry stakeholder alike will make her feel welcome and support this opportunity to strengthen CGA’s position both nationally and globally Penny worked closely with cherry growers during her applied science degree before she completed a PhD focused on production of the fruit she also contributed as a lecturer and research fellow on industry-specific projects Her career spans executive roles at Hort Innovation and the Department of Primary Industries Queensland where she led programmes across international trade Site powered by Webvision Cloud Sign up for our daily Newsletter and stay up to date with all the latest news You are receiving this pop-up because this is the first time you are visiting our site You are using software which is blocking our advertisements (adblocker) we are relying on revenues from our banners So please disable your adblocker and reload the page to continue using this site.Thanks Cherry Growers Australia (CGA) has announced the appointment of Penny Measham as its new Chief Executive Officer Measham brings extensive experience across horticulture and is highly regarded both nationally and internationally within the horticultural sector CGA President Alison Jones described the appointment as an exciting development for the organisation "We're thrilled to welcome Penny Measham as the new CEO of CGA It is a real privilege to have someone of her calibre step into the role," said Jones "Penny is dedicated to cherries and passionate about working with CGA to achieve the industry's vision I'm confident growers and stakeholders alike will welcome her and support this opportunity to strengthen CGA's position both nationally and globally." Measham began her career working closely with cherry growers during her applied science studies She later completed a PhD focusing on key production issues Her academic background also includes roles as a lecturer and research fellow Measham has held senior positions at Hort Innovation and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries where she led programs in international trade She is also an experienced board member and has a strong track record in governance working closely with industry and government partners Her contributions to the global horticulture community include involvement with the International Society of Horticultural Science and presentations at international conferences on horticultural production and trade Despite her broad international experience her focus remains firmly on supporting Australian horticulture and delivering value to cherry growers CGA looks forward to the leadership and expertise Measham will bring as it continues to advocate for Australian cherry growers in both domestic and global markets For more information:Cherry Growers AustraliaTel: +61 03 6231 1229Email: [email protected]www.cherrygrowers.org.au FreshPublishers © 2005-2025 FreshPlaza.com The University of Liverpool’s Professor Fiona Measham won the Outstanding Contribution to Festivals Award for her work delivering volunteer led drug testing services on the festival circuit Professor Measham, Chair of Criminology in the University’s School of Law and Social Justice,  will be recognised for her work at the UK Festival Awards (UKFA) held at a glittering London venue on December 5 UKFA said: “Throughout her 30-year academic career – beginning at King’s College Cambridge and most recently as Chair in Criminology at the University of Liverpool – Fiona’s work has been shaped by her passion for music and dance culture “Never one to be trapped in the ivory towers of academia her academic work has always been action-oriented reflecting her lifelong commitment to equality and social justice causes she has served on the Government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs David Nutt’s Drugs Science Committee as well as the Lib Dems’ expert panel on cannabis regulation and also acted as the key expert witness in the fight to keep Fabric nightclub open “Her research interest in how the interface of dance music culture and criminal justice impacted on the health and wellbeing of young people ultimately led to her establishing the harm reduction service, The Loop “This was the first organisation to offer drug safety testing services in the UK – at the Secret Garden Party and Kendal Calling festivals in 2016 then spreading to many more over the next four summers Individuals submit a sample to the service without fear of legal sanction have it tested by The Loop’s team of graduate chemists and then have the test results given to them by a healthcare professional in the context of a 15-minute healthcare consultation “This knowledge has allowed thousands of individuals to make more informed choices about their drug use at festivals and to minimise the risks involved Evidence gathered by The Loop has demonstrated reduced drug related harm after the service has been implemented and substantial quantities of adulterated or mis-sold drugs have been identified and destroyed “The Loop is a service that addresses the reality of drug use in a pragmatic and at a time of record drug related deaths nationally “All the more impressive is that Fiona and her team of over 200 Loop volunteers are all unpaid and yet were able to develop and implement the service with strong local stakeholder support in a profoundly hostile national political context more often dominated by hysteria and scaremongering than the kind of measured evidenced based pragmatism that has characterised Fiona’s work “Through this remarkable effort Fiona and The Loop have not only helped keep young people safe but also changed the national discourse – amongst festival promoters Policy on drugs and health has evolved in a positive direction; away from the failed zero tolerance approaches of the past All recent news EVENT: In Conversation with former Oasis manager Reform enters government for the first time with mayoral election wins Warming Oceans and atmosphere visualised in new climate stripes study Reform wins Runcorn byelection by just six votes – what the result means for Labour and the Tories Mathematician elected Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales This site uses some unobtrusive cookies to store information on your computer and the site won\'t work as expected without them These cookies are set when you submit a form login or interact with the site by doing something that goes beyond clicking on simple links We also use some non-essential cookies to anonymously track visitors or enhance your experience of the site By using our site you accept the terms of our Privacy Policy. Pipe Center has officially opened its Measham distribution centre (DC), the newest and most technologically advanced distribution facility in Wolseley UK’s supply chain. The 142,000sq ft facility enables Pipe Center to deliver across its entire network on a next-day basis and created 54 new job opportunities. Measham features cutting edge technology such as a dynamic ‘goods to man’ Kasto automated tube storage system. The bespoke Kasto system, which required the installation of 182 drive piles, has boosted storage capacity by 20% and reduced the distance warehouse operatives have to travel when picking. HighJump, a leading warehouse management system, processes all warehouse tasks and offers superior tracking and traceability of inventory, further maximising efficiencies and reducing costs. Narrow aisle trucks work directly with HighJump and forklift trucks and their operators are automatically directed to the correct location. Optimised storage and improved stock management allows branches to offer an even broader range of products. Managing director of Pipe and Climate Center, Andy Wighton, said: “We have created one of the most dynamic and advanced distribution centres in the industry that will help us achieve customer service excellence. “Measham DC is ideally placed geographically and fits with our supply chain strategy to be as efficient as possible. It optimises our distribution capability for Pipe and Climate Center so we can offer our customers next day delivery, and accommodates our exciting growth ambitions for the next 10-15 years.” Measham, in Swadlincote, Derbyshire, is situated within unique central hub of national infrastructure connections often referred to as the ‘Golden Triangle’ for distribution and logistics. It has been fully operational since December 2014. Pictured (L to R): New Zealand rugby team’s former captain Sean Fitzpatrick, Andy Wighton and Steve Ashmore, managing director of Wolseley UK Delegates to the IOR Annual Conference taking place from 21 to 22 April will get the chance to access the event live and all sessions and recordings for up six months afterwards providing fantastic value and allowing anyone registering for the event ... Win hotels, flights, and VIP Tickets for two to watch Mikey Hardie #93 up close and personal and have the VIP Experience at British Superbikes in Assen, Netherlands.... All images used in this blog are owned by The Loop Saturday 27th January 2024 is a red letter day for drug checking and for harm reduction more generally in the UK The Loop starts the UK’s first regular drug checking service (DCS)[i] this launch represents the start of a new era for drug checking and it could not come at a more important time Drug-related deaths have increased year on year to nearly 5,000 in 2022[ii] The National Crime Agency estimates that two people are dying every week from synthetic opioids The risks from adulteration of the illegal drug market have never been greater and the need to know what is in circulation has never been stronger The good news is that a Home Office-licensed regular DCS starts in Bristol city centre tomorrow There is much to rejoice about in this milestone but it has been neither plain sailing getting to this point it has been a long and winding road with unexpected twists however tempting it might be to impose that narrative Policy debates were focused on how to control these New Psychoactive Substances – through generic controls tiered regulatory frameworks and eventually blanket bans  – and policy questions focused on how to keep up with the rate and scale of innovation Drug checking was something which happened in other countries and the general consensus was that it was impossible to introduce drug checking in the UK without legislation there was no political interest in doing so and there was not considered to be a robust enough international evidence base to win over significant support in the country Added to this was the view that there wouldn’t be much uptake from people who use drugs anyway Why would anyone give away their drugs for free Getting drug checking across the line has been a different process in different political contexts in different countries and regions In the UK the characteristics have included pilots negotiations with national and local stakeholders for over a decade Stepping stonesThe path from non public to public testing in the UK can be characterised as a stepping stone approach The Loop initially starting with ‘back of house’ non public testing of substances of concern from medics welfare and police in nightclubs [i] from 2013 and in festivals from 2014 with the first event-based testing service primarily for harm reduction purposes The inspiration for this came from TICTAC which was the first city testing service based in a fixed site London hospital lab TICTAC has been testing substances of concern from health services police and nightclub amnesty bins for over 25 years Hearing TICTAC presentations to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (where I served from 2008-18) and shadowing TICTAC and Home Office chemists onsite at Creamfields and Glastonbury from 2010 I saw their use of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) in operation FTIR was paired with a regularly updated TICTAC reference library to match and identify unknown substances from seizures confiscations and ground finds within minutes The Loop switched the focus of FTIR onsite testing from police intelligence to harm reduction The first back of house testing event by The Loop in 2013 was supported onsite by the loan of a Home Office FTIR and guidance on its use from Home Office chemists Less supportive were some academic chemists and medics who were publicly critical of the suitability of utilising FTIR for drug checking The value of this stepping stone approach lay in building partnerships and jointly developing multi agency working practises onsite at events for three years delivering prompt test results from professional chemists national and international drug market trends Stakeholders could see the added value of onsite testing for harm reduction purposes for themselves through ‘meet and greet’ lab tours open to all This demystified the process of forensic analysis and showed at first hand some of the extraordinary substances circulating in local drug markets which were highlighted for their increased risk or sometimes just the audacity of suppliers Showing the value to receiving prompt and accurate information about what is in circulation was invaluable to building stakeholder relations The missing link in this dissemination of test results became starkly evident People who are taking or considering taking these substances also need the opportunity to access testing services to obtain this information and the expertise to guide them through the relative risks incurred reasonable next step to push to pilot publicly accessible DCSs Attending European conferences and hearing presentations from drug checking services like DIMS and Energy Control showed that publicly funded drug checking and those examples were shared with UK stakeholders The pilot years of 2016-18 were possible only because of three sets of extraordinary people health professionals and others who gave their time freely to staff The Loop service and were united in developing and delivering a vision of doing things differently The second is the group of innovators from across the different stakeholder groups – most notably senior figures in the police and local and central government – who took a degree of professional risk in supporting The Loop to take those next steps surrendered their drugs for testing and destruction Would it increase drug use rather than decrease harm Would anyone give away their drugs for testing Three years’ evaluations of festival[i] and city centre pilots[ii] were published at a time when it would be fair to say that the evidence base for DCSs was ‘emergent’ and the evidence base blossomed across Europe The evidence is coalescing that (unsurprisingly) the majority of service users throw away substances which they don’t want and a significant minority take smaller amounts when informed of high strength substances alongside individually calibrated dosage advice Reduced consumption of adulterants reduces the risk of poisoning and reduced dosage reduces the risk of overdose Whilst the hook to bring hidden populations into a DCS is clearly the test result it is increasingly evident that the added value of drug checking is in the dialogue with health professionals and communication of relative risk In the UK there is also growing confusion and some evidence of definition creep around what exactly drug checking is or isn’t and whether health consultations are even an essential part of the service Whilst it can be seen as a positive sign of just how much drug checking has moved from the margins to the mainstream in this wider embrace journalists or even Parliamentary committees[iii] make recommendations regarding drug checking based on varying definitions and it is unclear what it is that they are advocating for A number of other services across the UK have been awaiting The Loop receiving this ‘test case’ licence and are now submitting theirs We hope and anticipate that there will be a network of multiple DCS providers by the end of 2024 These provide an opportunity to monitor drug trends; support and signpost people to drug treatment and other local services; reduce drug-related harm and the associated burden on the NHS; and most importantly centre people who use drugs at the heart of the decision-making processes around drug use With amongst the highest drug-related death rates on record and in Europe [iv] Measham Dabbing and Stockpiling: The emergence of mephedrone and the perversity of prohibition [v] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/dec/01/drug-testing-warehouse-project-nightclub [viii] Home Affairs Committee (2023), Home Affairs Committee Third Report of the 2022-23 Session on Drugs, https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmhaff/198/summary.html The ad-free version is ready for purchase on iOS mobile app today we couldn't find that page";var n=e.querySelector("h2");return n&&n.remove(),{staticContent:e,title:t}},d=function(e){var t=document.createElement("button");return t.innerText=e,t.classList.add("error-page-button"),t},f=function(e){var t=document.createElement("div");t.id="recirculation-404",t.classList.add("brand-hint-bg");var n="\n \n \n Tick here if you would like us to send you the author’s response The return of one of Leicestershire’s largest car boot sales this weekend has been postponed after concerns about whether it would be safe to go ahead The organisers of Measham Car Boot were planning for their first event since the easing of lockdown to take place on Sunday However, it has now been put back after discussions with North West Leicestershire District Council. The two parties have been in talks throughout the week as the organisers have worked to put in safety measures in place to allow the car boot to take place the council said the level of work and risk assessments needed means Sunday’s planned opening has come too soon Want to know what's happening with crime in Leicestershire Get free email updates - plus breaking news alerts too Just sign up to our email newsletter service Simply type your email address into the 'sign up to free daily alerts' at the top of this article Click 'subscribe' and you can expect your first newsletter at the next release Alternatively, click here to sign up online - or join more than 35,000 others in our dedicated Leicestershire crime Facebook group Council community services spokesman Councillor Andrew Woodman said: “After all the sacrifices people have made in North West Leicestershire in recent months it didn’t feel right for an event of this size to take place when there were still safety concerns outstanding “We fully understand the organisers' eagerness to bring back this car boot but putting all the necessary measures in place was always a big challenge in such a short space of time and they deserve huge credit for recognising this and agreeing to postpone – I thank them for that “Public safety is at the heart of this decision and the joint desire to control this virus and ultimately save lives markets and indeed car boots are going to need everyone’s backing in the coming weeks and months as we revive our local economy businesses and economy will recover and rebuild from this pandemic and we’re here to help make this happen in a way that is safe and timely.” said: “We’re disappointed not to be returning this weekend but we felt it was important we listen to our local community and the advice from the district council “This will give us more time to do a thorough risk assessment and fully implement the safety measures required for us to bring back a safe and welcoming car boot in the near future “Thank you for the patience our customers and traders continue to show as we work through this process and we look forward to seeing you soon.” Story SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right Measham C of E Primary School learned the foundations of health and safety with building products manufacturer Forterra By InYourArea Community · 12 May 2022 Pictured above: Pupils of Measham Primary gearing up in hi-vis jackets and hard hats A group of Measham pupils have visited a local brickworks and factory for an educational tour aiming to teach children about health and safety Measham C of E Primary School became part of the Safety Squad a school engagement project from building products manufacturer Forterra The initiative links local schools and Forterra's manufacturing plants around the UK to promote awareness of health and safety in work Measham brickworks Plant Manager Kishan Sisodia said: "It was our pleasure to host the pupils and teachers of Measham Primary School as the inaugural members of the Safety Squad visited the Measham brickworks and Red Bank factory for an educational tour Red Bank has a long history in Leicestershire having produced chimney pots and bespoke clayware in Measham since 1919 Centuries-old crafting methods remain in use to this day alongside newer mechanical methods the pupils and teachers of Measham Primary School embarked on their health and safety journey They discovered how to use the correct personal protective equipment (PPE) and learned about safety in the manufacturing environment learning how bricks and clay products are made and used said: "Thank you so much to all the Forterra team for organising the Safety Squad – the children loved it "I have to express how impressed we all were with every staff member – the level of care and safety they showed was incredible!" The next stage in the Safety Squad programme involves the students writing about the history of bricks and the processes involved in making them They will conduct their own safety evaluation at home or in their classroom and create STOP sign designs to add to the safety signage in the factory Get all the latest news, updates, things to do and more from Measham, Leicestershire's dedicated InYourArea feed LoadingDaily Email Updates {{contentTitle}} I feel really at home in clubs; my first job in a nightclub was when I was 15 and they've always held a fascination for me – when the strip lights go off and the music comes up I go to nightclubs every weekend and in summer I go to festivals to find out what people are taking and why I talk to hundreds of people and I run a charity called The Loop that aims to reduce drug-related harm we wouldn't have said there was such a thing as "legal highs" or NPS It was the perfect storm: the illegal drug market was treading water ecstasy and cocaine purity were the lowest they had ever been and suddenly this new product comes along that is legal and delivered to your door for £10 a gram Most legal highs are actually illegal – 70-80% of them are already controlled in the UK because we have this broad-ranging generic legislation that bans all chemicals of the same family We've banned things that don't even exist yet more than half the people are taking drugs There are now more than 350 NPSs identified by the European Monitoring Centre (EMCDDA) but just because we have these products doesn't mean everyone's buying them I took a student to a festival this summer to do research on NPS and he couldn't find anyone who was taking any He had to change his dissertation to "Why aren't people taking NPS?" Classic For a lot of people NPSs are an unpleasant substitute My research shows that people sometimes call NPSs "chav drugs" and there's definitely a market among lower-income groups who want a cheap mixtures of unidentified white powders have been sold as "bubble" which is basically a hotchpotch of whatever stimulants and ex-legal highs are hanging around in the dealer's house It's almost taken the place of what speed was in the 1990s – the "poor man's cocaine" they don't have much of a problem with synthetic cannabinoids whereas in New Zealand they have trouble getting hold of illegal drugs It would be interesting to see what happened to NPS in the UK if we introduced a legal I went to a two-day festival this summer and there were nine cardiac arrests from MDMA High purity can be as much of a problem as low purity but people are taking too much because they don't realise the MDMA is really strong"; people were tweeting back but they were also a part of what made him feel safe My teenage daughter finds it quite amusing that her mum's a lifelong clubber but she and her friends aren't really interested They go to cafés and they go to Waterstones in the evening and listen to authors The next generation has a lot of pressures – university fees Alcohol and drug use is falling among under-25s "Our generation has to stay sober to sort out the mess that your generation's made of the world." The media could be a lot more nuanced in their discussion of drugs There tends to be an over-focus on "worthy victims"; typical young white poster-boys and girls who have taken ecstasy or NPS and you don't hear much about the homeless or unemployed people who might die from heroin or crack The focus on a few individuals doesn't tend to be very illuminating of the general situation This is the archive of The Observer up until 21/04/2025 The Observer is now owned and operated by Tortoise Media The UK Festival Awards has announced this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Festivals Award will be presented to Professor Fiona Measham Throughout her 30-year academic career which spans King’s College Cambridge and the University of Liverpool – Measham’s work has been shaped by her passion for music and dance culture Her academic work has always been action-oriented reflecting her lifelong commitment to equality and social justice the Lib Dems’ expert panel on cannabis regulation and was the key expert witness in the fight to keep Fabric nightclub open Her research interest in how the interface of dance music culture and criminal justice impacted on the health and wellbeing of young people ultimately led to her establishing the harm reduction service It was the first organisation to offer drug safety testing services in the UK first at Kendal Calling and the Secret Garden Party festivals in 2016 festivalgoers can submit a sample without fear of legal sanction then have the test results given to them by a healthcare professional during a 15-minute consultation This knowledge has minimised the risks involved with drug-taking by allowing thousands of individuals to make more informed choices about their drug use Evidence gathered by The Loop has shown that drug related harm has been reduced after the service has been implemented and a significant amount of contaminated or mis-sold drugs have been identified and destroyed The Loop addresses the reality of drug use in a pragmatic and non-judgmental way and with drug-related deaths in 2018 being the highest since 1993 Fiona and her team of over 200 Loop volunteers are all unpaid yet still develop and implement the service Fiona and The Loop have not only helped keep young people safe but have also helped sway the national discourse on drugs Policy on drugs and health has started to evolve positively; away from zero tolerance approaches and towards a reality-based focus on health The judges have cited the above reasons as why Fiona will be presented with the UKFA’s Outstanding Contribution to Festivals Award The UK Festival Awards will take place on 5 December at the Troxy in London Olivia Powell is the junior news reporter on Exhibition News and Access All Areas Contact Olivia with your latest news on opowell@mashmedia.net BCA has doubled the sales capacity at the Measham Commercial Remarketing centre with the opening of a second auction hall while also improving the existing facilities with a new undercover drive through canopy The new purpose built facility includes a large undercover auction hall and rostrum with full Live Online and e-Auction capability back office and vendor hospitality facilities which means Measham now has the capacity to offer over 500 light commercials through two lanes every sale day The official opening sale took place on Tuesday and featured stock from a number of a large contract hire fleet and dealer groups including Lex Autolease A strong turnout of buyers and plenty of Live Online activity saw over 80% of the entry sold for 100% of CAP Measham will continue to stage fortnightly heavy commercial sales on every second Thursday and specialist monthly Plant & Equipment and Farm & Agricultural sales Register to receive our range of digital content By submitting any material to us you are confirming that the material is your own original work or that you have permission from the copyright owner to use the material and to authorise Bauer Consumer Media to use it as described in this paragraph You also promise that you have permission from anyone featured or referred to in the submitted material to it being used by Bauer Consumer Media If Bauer Consumer Media receives a claim from a copyright owner or a person featured in any material you have sent us we will inform that person that you have granted us permission to use the relevant material and you will be responsible for paying any amounts due to the copyright owner or featured person and/or for reimbursing Bauer Consumer Media for any losses it has suffered as a result More than 90% of participants who completed a follow up survey to a drug checking service said the intervention influenced their subsequent behaviour new research by the University of Liverpool reveals In the first published study of its kind, Professor Fiona Measham, in the University’s Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology assessed 1,482 face-to-face brief interventions delivered at three English music festivals in 2017 and then invited participants to provide an email address for an anonymous follow up survey three months later one quarter (130) of those who consented on site fully completed the follow up questionnaire The follow up survey results revealed that: Professor Fiona Measham said: “Whilst relatively small this follow-up study demonstrates the potential value of post-intervention surveys in examining outcomes that would not otherwise be identified on-site “Ongoing harm reduction practices that were attributed to engaging with the service included increased caution towards polydrug use and increased information-seeking and communication around drug use “This is particularly important given that just 3.6% of those engaged said they had spoken previously with health professionals about their alcohol or other drug use.” The drug-checking service operated at three outdoor camping festivals of four or more days in length in 2017; two of which were electronic music orientated with a largely young adult audience with the third festival more family-orientated and offering a broad range of mainstream entertainment Substances of concern could be voluntarily submitted by the public for chemical analysis with results provided directly to participants to increase their knowledge of the substances they had taken or were planning to take 77.3% of substances submitted were identified as expected while 10.7% were revealed to be substances other than those the subject thought they had been sold or given Of those whose substance was not as expected more than half reported handing over the substance for destruction or discarding any that remained when asked at the festival and in the follow up questionnaire (50.3% and 52.6% respectively) For participants whose substance was as expected a smaller dose following engaging with the drug checking service when asked onsite and in the follow-up questionnaire (38.3% and 41.7% respectively) It should be noted that only 2.5% (6.5% on follow-up) of those whose substance was as expected reported intending to take a larger dose following engagement with the service undermining arguments that drug checking services encourage increased drug use Professor Fiona Measham said: “UK festivals provide a unique opportunity to engage large numbers of young adults not previously in touch with healthcare at the point of consumption if they are provided with the necessary information.” Co-author Dr Gavin Turnbull added: “Our findings show that not only does drug checking reduce harm at festivals but that the information provided enables people to make longer lasting changes to reduce drug-related risks.” 86.4% identified as white with a mean age of 23.5 years while on follow up respondents were 60% male 90% identified as white with a mean age of 23.4 years Professor Fiona Measham is co-founder and co-director of The Loop the non-profit NGO that delivered the drug checking service Measham, F. and Turnbull, G. (2021), Intentions, Actions and Outcomes: A follow up survey on harm reduction practices after using an English festival drug checking service, International Journal of Drug Policy, 103270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103270 It's after robust risk assessments were completed by organisers The council says they have been working closely the organisers after agreeing with them that the return of the car boot would be postponed from its initial planned return date two weeks ago This came after safety concerns we're raised by the community and the council's enforcement teams With detailed risk assessments now completed said: “Following concerns raised by residents we’re happy to confirm that after a thorough and robust risk assessment was completed “We’d like to thank the event organisers for working with us to ensure the car boot can open safely and it’s great to have another North West Leicestershire business back open There will be a number of measures in place to ensure everyone’s safety and the numbers of sellers and buyers will be strictly limited and controlled “Whether you are visiting a car boot it’s really important we continue to follow the social distancing guidance and wash hands regularly Let’s support our open businesses and control the virus." birthdays after 8 and the Test of Time after 9 Hanson Building Products invest £50 million in new brick factory with quality and sustainability at its coreLast September saw the official opening of Hanson Building Products’ £50 million state-of-the-art ‘soft-mud’ brick factory in Measham The factory is the largest and most modern production facility of its kind in Europe and has been designed and built with sustainability and quality at its core Located on a brownfield site close to the M42 motorway it has been developed to combine locally sourced raw materials with highly efficient low-energy and low-waste production processes to make the most sustainable bricks of their kind with the lowest embodied CO2 currently available in the market In addition to its impressive sustainability credentials the fully mechanized facility offers bricks of consistent colour and currently produces more than 20 different varieties of facing bricks in plain reds and buffs as well as multi-coloured options.Operated by a total of just 28 staff the factory has the capacity to produce 100 million bricks a year (more than 30,000 bricks an hour) and forms part of a project by Hanson Building Products – part of Germany’s HeidelbergCement Group – to replace their older smaller and less-efficient plants with large-scale highly automated facilities for the manufacture of high-quality facing bricks Measham now has the capacity to produce the same volume of bricks as five of the company’s previous factories but with around one tenth of the staff the multi-million pound investment is expected to give Hanson a significant competitive edge when the market recovers.The new factory has been built smaller brickworks and adjacent to a terracotta works both of which were originally owned and operated by Red Bank the former brickworks was bought by Hanson who then went on to acquire the rest of the Red Bank business in January 2006 as part of a strategic move to secure the company’s extensive high-quality clay reserves which are ideally located in the heart of central England Today the Hanson Red Bank terracotta works continues to produce hand-crafted chimney pots finials and other ornate niche clay products operating in complete contrast to the brand new high-output brick factory that now stands next door.Factory constructionGroundwork in preparation for the construction of the new factory commenced in September 2007 Because of the presence of residual oil contamination in the made-up ground on which the factory was to be built pressure cleaning of the soil across the entire area was one of the first tasks to be carried out followed by the installation of around 1,200 driven concrete piles to provide a stable foundation for the new factory    Bedford-based SDC Construction Group were appointed as the lead contractor for the initial phases of construction work with specialist brickmaking plant and equipment suppliers including German-based firms Händle and Lingl responsible for the design and installation of the manufacturing machinery which measures approximately 300m in length x 100m in width was constructed in line with BREEAM sustainability criteria utilizing as much natural light and ventilation as possible in conjunction with low-energy artificial lighting together with provision for the capture rainwater from the factory roof for use in the production process all motors and inverters (2kW and above) used within the factory are highly energy-efficient EFF1-rated units and a flocculant system is used to ensure effective recycling of waste sand and water from the brick production process.Brick production – quarry operationsMeasham has more than 6 million tonnes of owned and permitted clay reserves – sufficient to last for 25 years at the current production level of 100 million bricks a year The clay pit itself is situated adjacent to the new factory but is separated from it by a public road The indigenous raw material – a red-burning clay belonging to the Keuper Marl formation – is extracted by contractors on a twice yearly campaign basis to form a 30,000m3 main stockpile which is built up in layers to provide an element of preliminary mixing The Keuper Marl represents approximately 80% of the feedstock to the new factory with the remaining 20% comprising locally imported fireclay which is also stockpiled on site for use in the production of a range of buff-coloured bricks Quantities of imported body sand and fuel additive (anthracite) are also held on site.Initial processing and blending of the clays and additives takes place within the quarry site Three 60-tonne capacity load-cell-mounted box feeders which are fed by wheel loader and housed within their own covered building feed correct proportions of the main clay feedstocks on to a conveyor belt for delivery to an adjacent primary crusher building at a rate of 130 tonnes/h The primary crusher comprises a heavy-duty Händle twin-shaft roller mill driven by two Hägglunds hydraulic motors and capable of reducing 0.5m clods of hard shale and clay down to 100mm The unit is equipped with a breakout device for the release of tramp metal.After primary crushing between 10–20% body sand is added to the clay to control shrinkage of the bricks during drying and firing If a multi-coloured red brick is to be produced a small percentage (1–2%) of anthracite is also added to the carbon-poor indigenous clay at this point; this is not necessary with the imported fireclay which has a higher naturally occurring carbon content These additives are introduced proportionally via two additional load-cell-mounted box feeders and belt conveyors housed within the primary crusher building.From here the material stream is fed to the new factory building via a series five belt conveyors This 140m long conveyor line passes over Atherstone Road via a new bridge has been clad with Wonderwall brick slips to give it a visual appearance similar to the canal bridges often seen in this part of the Midlands.Brick production – factory operationsOn arrival in the new factory the main phases of clay preparation begin with delivery of the material to a Händle wet-pan mill This centre-feed milling unit is equipped with four 16-tonne rollers that revolve around the pan forcing the clay through a slotted base at a rate of 130 tonnes/h This reduces the clay down to 10–20mm while mixing and homogenizing the material at the same time The clay is then discharged on to two 2.4m wide collecting conveyors each of which can operate independently if necessary for delivery to two sets of rollers; first a medium-speed pair with a gap setting of 2.5 mm followed by a high-speed pair with a finer setting of 0.8mm these units finely grind the clay to ensure that any impurities do not cause problems when the bricks are fired All four roller units are equipped with integral turning lathes to allow regular trimming of the rollers as the accuracy of the gap setting is critical to the quality of the finished bricks The two clay streams are then sent to a pair of double-shaft paddle-bladed screening mixers where further mixing takes place together with the addition of water to achieve a moisture content of around 13–15% A barium carbonate slurry is also added at this point to prevent soluble salts from causing discolouration on the surface of the finished bricks.From here the prepared clay is delivered to the ‘souring’ house where it is discharged by overhead shuttle conveyor into one of four 1,125m3 capacity bunkers each capable of holding around 2,500 tonnes of clay The souring house provides a material buffer stock for the downstream brickmaking plant allowing various compositions to be stored and called upon when needed it also provides for further conditioning and homogenization of the clay       The clay is recovered from the souring house by means of a fully automated which scrapes across the face of the stockpiles planing off and mixing the clay and delivering it on to a lower belt which feeds two screen feeders These are designed to further moisten and homogenize the clay after its period of storage in the bunkers and to ensure the soft-mud mixers on the downstream brickmaking plant receive an even and consistent feed the souring house shuttle conveyor can be moved to a bypass position to feed the two screen feeders directly.At this point in the process the fully automated Händle clay preparation and processing facilities feed into the interlinked De Boer brickmaking plant Drawing the prepared clay at a rate of 100 tonnes/h and capable of making 34,000 bricks per hour the brickmaking machinery combines two technologies which provide the ability to produce pressed bricks thrown bricks or water-struck bricks through relatively minor adjustments to the plant such flexibility would have required the use of three separate machines.Clay from the Händle screen feeders is delivered These two final mixing units automatically add the correct amount of water to achieve the final consistency needed for the brickmaking process (18–22% moisture content) The brick-forming machine works by either pressing or throwing the soft clay into a series of pre-sanded moulds which form a chain-driven mould train that passes beneath the machine Metal trays are automatically placed on top of the filled moulds allowing the bricks to be de-moulded for delivery into the dryer car via a walking beam While the bricks are being transported to the dryer by a transfer system the moulds undergo a washing and re-sanding process before being returned to the press for the next filling any waste clay from the brick-forming machine is recycled back to the soft-mud mixers      The drying section at Measham comprises eight Lingl chamber dryers where the ‘oversize’ bricks are dried/cured for 30h to reduce their moisture content from around 20% down to less than 2% before they are set for firing each of which is capable of holding 73,920 bricks utilize waste heat from the cooling section of the factory’s gas-fired kiln for optimum energy efficiency and fuel usage A transfer system retrieves the dry cars of bricks from the chamber dryers and delivers them whereupon another walking beam collects the bricks and transports them to a series of brick turners These turn over the bricks and their metal trays allowing the trays to be removed and returned to the brick-making machine while the dry bricks progress to a robotic setting station.At the setting station the bricks are automatically rotated turned on edge and formed into groups of 11 ready for setting Four setting robots then place the groups of bricks on kiln car pallets in stacks or ‘hacks’ comprising 528 bricks ready for a forked crane to lift them on to waiting refractory kiln cars each of which carries 32 hacks comprising a total of 16,896 bricks to warm storage at the entrance to the tunnel kiln The kiln itself measures more than 200m in length and contains a total of 32 kiln cars at any given time The cars are pushed through the kiln by means of hydraulic rams on a one-in The firing cycle lasts for 36h with a firing temperature that can vary between 1,025°C and 1,080°C depending on the brick type being produced The kiln temperature and conditions (ie whether using oxidation or reduction firing) the composition of the clay mixture used and the way the bricks are set in the kiln all contribute to the finished pattern and colour of the bricks a flue-gas scrubber containing 300 tonnes of limestone filters out hydrogen fluoride from the exhaust gas which is emitted via a 45m tall chimney.On exiting the kiln the haulage system transports the kiln cars to the de-hacking station where the hacks of fired bricks are removed from the cars by a forked crane and placed on a belt which presents them to the de-hacking robots These remove alternate layers of bricks from different hacks to ensure a good blend and maximum colour mixing within the individual finished packs The layers of bricks are placed on a chain conveyor for transport to the packing area where paper is placed on top of each layer to minimize scuffing during transport The brick layers are then doubled up and built into packs comprising a total of 495 bricks by a series of packing robots Voids are left within the packs to allow for fork-lift truck handling The finished packs are then strapped automatically before moving on to stretch hood machines which apply a protective film covering A roller conveyor transports the finished packs out of the factory building where they picked up and taken to stock by a unique 16-tonne Linde fork-lift truck that is capable of handling six packs at a time           ConclusionDespite the economic downturn and resulting reduction in demand for bricks there remains a pent-up demand for housing in the UK and Hanson Building Products say this major investment in the future of the brick industry will ensure the company is well positioned when recovery kicks in which currently works on a day-shift basis only has the potential to work round the clock as demand increases the factory itself has been designed to allow for the possible future addition of another drying section and kiln at a cost of around one third of the original investment would double Measham’s output to 200 million bricks a year combined with a highly efficient manufacturing facility which has quality and sustainability at its core puts Hanson Building Products in a very strong position  AcknowledgementThe editor wishes to thank Hanson Building Products for permission to visit the Measham site and for their help in the preparation of this report jobs events and articles direct to your inbox Subscribe Here Agg-Net is the ‘go-to’ website for key decision makers within the aggregates and recycling industries market reports and industry features provide an independent and informed voice for the industry Agg-Net is the official digital partner for Hillhead providing unrivalled coverage of our June event 7 Regent StreetNottinghamNG1 5BSUnited KingdomTel: +44 (0)115 941 1315 UK: The UK Festival Awards has announced that it will present this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Festivals Award to Professor Fiona Measham Throughout her 30-year academic career – beginning at King’s College Never one to be trapped in the ivory towers of academia and also acted as the key expert witness in the fight to keep Fabric nightclub open and substantial quantities of adulterated or mis-sold drugs have been identified and destroyed Tickets for the UK Festival Awards are priced at £125 (plus VAT) and can be purchased here access to the networking reception and in-house afterparty plus 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