Recently we were delighted that our friend and one time secondee Tom Mclean gained a 2:1 in his BEng in Civil Engineering degree course - Well Done Tom! During his stay at CEW Tom got involved in the Recycled Aggregate for Minor Schemes (RAMS) specification project. This work inspired him to use the subject of recycled aggregate as the topic for his dissertation. Tom has now informed us that his lecturers were very pleased with both his work and his chosen topic which was really pleasing to hear. However, the “but” in our headline is that we were a bit disappointed to hear that none of his college lecturers had heard of the RAMS project.

We have always recognised that we still have a great deal of work to do in raising awareness of the benefits of adopting the RAMS specification for use in the construction of footpaths, cycle paths, playgrounds, light vehicle parks etc. as opposed to using virgin quarried stone.

The completed specification was presented to a group of Highway Development Control Officers back in February and was, we believe, well received. This was the first step in disseminating the specification throughout the 22 Local Authorities, but Tom’s telling us about the knowledge gap in the halls of academia prompts us to think that perhaps we need to focus more effort on informing the sector committed to educating the next generation of engineers.

The RAMS specification can be read and downloaded here, so please take a look and if you are part of a place of learning and would like to know more please contact email Paul Jennings.