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Michael Pawlyn RIBA FRSA from Exploration Architecture, who designed the Eden Project, will chair a special seminar, during the Symposium, and a panel of experts including Peter Head, Global Leader of Planning at Arup; Nick Drake, Sustainability Manager at Carillion Plc, and Sophie Walker, Senior Consultant at Jones Lang LaSalle will discuss the impact of biodiversity on the construction industry and the steps business can take to reverse the decline in biodiversity.

As part of the Biodiversity Symposium, Lafarge UK will be hosting the official pre-event site visit, on the 12th July, at their Panshanger Estate in Hertfordshire. This site visit will enable delegates attending the Symposium, along with other invited guests, to tour the estate and see a ‘live’ example of business contributing to enhancing biodiversity at this operational quarry set in a Grade II* Listed landscape.

Robert Whetstone - Managing Director of Lafarge Aggregate & Concrete’s commented:

“Our Panshanger Estate is a fantastic example of the contribution business can make to meeting the challenge of enhancing biodiversity whilst meeting the challenges of a modern, growing society. This we have done working closely with a range of wildlife groups, conservation organisations & through employing our own full-time experts who dedicate time and resource to understanding our natural environment, managing our natural environment and carefully planning, over the long-term, to create new, diverse and natural habitats.”

Leading expert speakers who will address attendees at the symposium include the UK Secretary of State for the Environment; Johan Eliasch, Chairman of The Head Group; Pavan Sukhdev, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Study Leader:  Tom Albanese, CEO, Rio Tinto; Malcolm Preston, CEO PWC Sustainability & Climate Change; Ladislav Miko, Nature Director at the European Commission; and Gavin Neath from Unilever, amongst many others.  Delegates will also receive the opening video message address from HRH Prince Charles.

To find our more about the Symposium and the pre-event please visit: www.lafarge.co.uk or www.businessofbiodiversity.co.uk.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

• The Lafarge Group is the world leader in building materials, with top-ranking positions in all of its businesses: Cement, Aggregates & Concrete and Gypsum.
• Lafarge A&C UK is part of the world's largest building materials group and is a major UK supplier of innovative concretes and asphalts, rock, sand and gravel and waste management services. Lafarge A&C UK is proud of its hands-on approach to sustainability, which includes award-winning quarry restoration, the careful management of two National Nature Reserves and the development of sustainable, low-energy homes. Innovation and architectural creativity are at the heart of Lafarge's priorities and in 2010, for the sixth year in a row, Lafarge was listed in the ‘Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World’*.
• For additional information about the Symposium or the pre-event or for interview or photo’ requests, please contact Richard Halderthay, Head of Communications on 07972 533728 or by email at richard.halderthay@lafarge.com. Alternatively please find further information on the web site at www.lafarge.co.uk.  
• Find ‘Lafarge UK’ on Facebook.