Lafarge is celebrating after picking up the highest accolade at the Rail Freight Group’s Awards for its Northfleet rail reconnection project in northwest Kent.

At a prestigious event, led by Rail Freight Group (RFG) chairman Lord Tony Berkeley, Lafarge was chosen ahead of DB Schenker Rail, and Network Rail & Funding Partners, in the Rail Freight Project of the Year category.

Lafarge’s Northfleet rail project involved the reconnection of its former cement works on the south bank of the River Thames to the main railway network and a tunnelling logistics centre for Crossrail. Opened in June this year, it will initially be used by Crossrail to transport excavated material from its major London construction sites. In the long term the reconnection of the railway will support wider regeneration plans for the site of Lafarge’s former Northfleet Works which closed in 2008.

The decision to award Lafarge with the top prize was based on a number of factors, including its effectiveness at managing the collaborative working partnership between all stakeholders on the project. It was applauded for the project’s excellent health and safety record, which required compliance with three separate safety regimes laid out by Network Rail, High Speed 1 and Lafarge Group, and the outstanding leadership of land and planning director David Simms and project manager Nigel Rees.

David Simms comments: “We are absolutely delighted to be given this very highly regarded, high profile award.  It is a huge credit to the very large team of people – both Lafarge and partner organisation employees – who have worked together to realise this very successful project.   We were particularly pleased that the judges recognised not only the technical delivery of the scheme, but also the excellent safety record and partnership element of it.  I would like to pass on my congratulations to everyone involved and we look forward to continuing the Northfleet success story into the future.”

In presenting the Award, the RFG Awards judges said: “The winner of this category is an exemplary project involving the reconnection and regeneration of what was once the UK’s largest cement producing plant. The project is already playing a key supporting role on Crossrail and promises to have a significant impact in the future. This was achieved as a fast-track initiative which was brought in on time and on budget.”