On the 19 October 2011, at the Hilton Park in Park Lane, London, Turner Facilities Management was awarded the prestigous Environmental Award 2011 for their 'Big Dig' initiative.

The Environmental Initiative of the Year was open to any company, organisation or individual demonstrating an outstanding commitment to environmental awareness in their working practices, products or projects. The judges were looking for details of the environmental challenge addressed, steps taken to overcome this challenge, details of an ongoing commitment and education due to the initiative.

As we, all know the world is changing and we all must change with it and projects like this will become the norm in years to come. Turner Facilities Management is quite rightly proud to be at the forefront of a new era and with the enthusiasm and professionalism across all core aspects of  our business, we are now well placed to make a difference to the world in which we live.

A spokesperson from Turner Facilities Management said'

Biodiversity is the life support system for our planet and serves us in many ways. It is a measure of sustainable development, helping us to gauge how we meet our needs today without affecting the quality of life for our children and the needs of future generations. Many people who live in Scotland's built up areas (90%) have little or no access to functional green space. A lack of quality green space, especially in densely populated urban areas, means that people including our children are deprived of the opportunity to experience nature at first hand.

Many spaces are of low quality and are uninviting to visit. Unmanaged vacant land blights many former industrial areas, especially in west central Scotland, degrading the quality of life, deterring investment and squandering the opportunity to enhance the existing biodiversity resource.

One of our aims was to have a local School co-manage our garden. This was to encourage community participation and ownership, enhance biodiversity, use green space to encourage healthy lifestyles and foster understanding and appreciation of the environment. Everyone has a role and responsibility in conserving biodiversity.

We wanted to attract a whole range of flora and fauna to our garden, which can be recorded and then passed to National recording centres. Our chosen school was Parkhill Secondary. Parkhill is a non-denominational secondary school for young people with additional support needs, which arise from factors linked to family circumstances, emotional and learning difficulties and health and disability including autism spectrum disorders. What these kids face on a daily basis is very humbling and Turner Facilities Management is quite rightly proud to be involved in such a wonderful project with such wonderful children'.