The development and enhancement of its surrounding natural environment is a priority for Mannok, and it has implemented a range of initiatives to nurture and impact nature positively.
The tree planting is also part of Mannok’s aim to maximise the carbon sequestration of its land. To date, Mannok has planted 20.4k native trees on its holdings. This began in 2021 as Team Mannok’s ‘Kick the Carbon’ live tree planting won Best Sustainability Initiative Award at UK Construction Week event in the NEC Birmingham.
With a live video link to the company’s tree planting team back in a field at its Crievehill Quarry, Fivemiletown in Northern Ireland, Mannok encouraged visitors at the show to ‘Kick the Carbon’ by having a tree planted there and then. A total of 600 trees were planted for this initiative. And the tree planting has continued to gather pace since then.
Two large tree planting projects were carried out recently at Kinrush in 2023 and again at Crievehill Quarry, Fivemiletown in 2024.
Mannok planted 9500 native tree species to create a new woodland at Kinrush, including Rowan, Oak, Alder, Scots Pine, Crab Tree, Birch and Willow species selected for the purpose of enhancing local biodiversity.
Mannok also planted 7500 native tree species at Crievehill Quarry in 2024, in addition to the 600 Scots pine trees previously planted in 2021 as part of the ‘Kick The Carbon’ initiative.
Mannok’s ‘Kick the Carbon’ live tree planting won Best Sustainability Initiative Award at the 2021 UK Construction Week Event.
To date Mannok has planted over 20.4k native trees on its holdings.
As part of Mannok’s carbon off-setting projects we aim to plant approx. 1200 native trees at one of our sandstone quarries.
Mannok has been awarded gold standard in the BITC Business & Biodiversity Charter.
Furthermore, Mannok’s commitment to sustainability has seen them involved in a couple of carbon-offsetting projects.
Mannok undertook the planting of 450 native trees in November 2023 after partnering with the Builders’ Merchants Federation (BMF).
The Creating Connections BMF All Industry Conference 2023 was held in Istanbul, Turkey from 15th-18th June 2023 and as a means of offsetting the carbon footprint from the event Mannok sponsored the planting of a tree for every attendee who travelled to the conference – 450 in all. A site at one of Mannok’s sandstone quarries was chosen for the trees to be planted.
The company also agreed to become a Sustainability Partner for the 2024 Builders’ Merchants Awards.
The partnership will include Mannok planting a tree for every attendee at the awards ceremony (approximately 750) to help offset the event’s carbon footprint, further increasing the number of native trees planted by the company.
This is all part of a wider biodiversity programme that the environmental team at Mannok is working on, and which saw them achieve gold standard in the BITC Business & Biodiversity Charter.
Enhancing Biodiversity
the Mannok environmental team has developed Natural Assets Action Plans for all its landholdings following an extensive land and biodiversity survey. The survey identified an extensive increase in biodiversity in the area surrounding Mannok, with many previously unseen butterflies and insects identified since the creation of the wildflower meadows.
With circa 2,000 acres of biodiversity rich lands in 47 separate locations, both north and south of the Irish border, Mannok has a unique responsibility to restore, protect and enhance the flora and fauna using nature-based methods and is working closely with its partners to implement the plans now in place.
Commitment to Pollinators
Mannok is also proud business supporters of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, a nationwide initiative to address the decline in pollinator numbers across Ireland (including the bee population), which are crucial to preserving native Irish ecosystems.
To date, the company has planted a total of over 500K nectar rich flowers and native trees to benefit Ireland’s pollinators, including1,000m2 of wildflower meadows, and has preserved approximately seven acres of ground for the natural reversion to wildflower meadows.
With its very own beehives on site, looked after by members of its team, Mannok has successfully increased its colonies and has almost trebled the number of native Irish dark honeybees on its sites to around 140,000.
