oint venture partners Morgan Est and VINCI Construction Grands Projets - two of the industry’s leading civil engineering contractors - are celebrating after hearing they are to be presented with a Green Apple Environment Award.

Morgan VINCI, the joint venture (JV) which delivered Scotland’s new £120 million Clackmannanshire Bridge and associated approach roads in Kincardine, will receive the award for Environmental Best Practice at the House of Commons later this year. The team will then automatically be entered for the European Business Awards in Brussels.

Clackmannanshire Bridge, which opened in November last year, involved constructing one of the world’s longest bridges. To minimise disruption to the environment, the bridge was constructed using incremental launch technology.

Special measures were also undertaken to minimise disturbance to migrating and over-wintering birds, which included using downward shielding lighting. The sea wall was also redesigned to provide a new inter-tidal habitat and an island formed to provide a new terrestrial refuge for breeding and roosting birds providing greater protection from predators such as foxes and mink.

Frank Platt, Project Director for the JV, said:

“We are thrilled to have won such a prestigious award. The project involved a lot of complex environmental work of which the end result has now provided not only a safer, cleaner and quieter environment for the people living in Kincardine, but has also ensured that the sensitive ecology of the Forth Estuary has been protected for the benefit of all.”

The JV will now also be invited to join the National Green Heroes, an elite group of environmental achievers who use their experience to help thousands of others and the environment around the world. 

Now in their sixteenth year, the Green Apple Awards attracted more than 500 nominations. They are organised by The Green Organisation which is dedicated to recognising, rewarding and promoting environmental best practice around the world