2021 Environment Grant Awardees

2021 Environment Grant Awardees

2021 Environment Grant Awardees
30 September 2021

Another successful year for our Environment Grant, as we get ready to announce this year’s awardees. We received so many applications from such a diverse range of projects and we loved reading about the incredible work that is going on in our communities, but it did make it tough for our CSR Team to choose. The grant is awarded to local projects that align with our values, further the environmental profession or raise awareness of environmental issues. And this year we are proud to be supporting four fantastic organisations that share a single vision of making where we live, work and play a better place for all.

Our first awardee is Croxteth Park Volunteer Group , which provides volunteering opportunities for the community through a series of Wildlife Recording Sessions. They also won Outstanding Environmental Project in the 2020 Echo Environment Awards. More consideration is being placed on evidence and data within local planning and decision-making, generating a need for the recording of biodiversity. Croxteth Park Volunteer Group plans to offer bi-monthly recording sessions for volunteers and local school children using the iNaturalist app, which will feed into local, national and global databases. One of the outcomes of this project will be to ensure species that are ‘in danger’ or decreasing in numbers are accurately recorded to provide good empirical data recording. They also hope to get more children out of the classroom and into their local parks and greenspaces. They believe by getting children involved, they can create a legacy that will protect the planet for them and future generations thereafter.

Our second awardee is PLACED Academy , an education programme delivered by PLACED, a social enterprise working with young people and communities. This autumn, PLACED will run a free Environmental Academy for 37 students from diverse backgrounds throughout the Liverpool City Region. By putting the built environment at the core of the programme, PLACED helps to create empowered young citizens who know their views matter and can shape the places in which they live. The Academy will help develop their self-belief, skills and knowledge. This will bring many benefits to the environment as students will become more aware of the opportunities to design towns and cities for the benefit of people’s health and wellbeing, to enhance biodiversity and reduce the impacts on climate change. The programme will comprise online and face to face sessions, including hearing from professionals, design workshops, mentoring, site visits, youth-led engagement, skill and design workshops. The expectation is that many will choose further study and continue to a career in the built or natural environment. The grant from TEP will help to ensure all participants have access to the same materials and the best opportunity to develop and record their ideas.

Our third awardee is Kirkby C of E Primary School , who are looking to facilitate Forest School style sessions for all their children. The school plans to transform a neglected woodland area to provide a safe space for children to learn. Nature provides countless opportunities for discovery, creativity and problem-solving. Interacting with natural environments allows children to learn by doing and experiment with ideas. In nature, children think, question, and make hypotheses — thereby developing inquisitive minds. The whole woodland area has become a haven for birds, plants, foxes, hedgehogs and insects. By working with experts, the school wants to protect the natural environment and teach children and young people how to re-connect with and respect nature.

Our fourth awardee is Friends of the Upper Wye , a volunteer group formed to defend their local river, The River Wye. The Wye is suffering from severe pollution and the effects of climate change. Many factors are influencing the poor health of the river including intensive agriculture, the discharge of human sewage, industrial spillages and the increased frequency of severe flooding events. Algal blooms are damaging irreplaceable ecosystems and killing the river from the bottom up. The group aims to better understand these complex problems and to offer practical solutions that anyone can get involved with. They plan to recruit local volunteers to monitor the Upper Wye and its tributaries, identifying key pollutants and their sources. They can then use this data to persuade those contributing to the pollution to improve their practices and to influence local authorities, statutory bodies, and the government to safeguard the river. The long-term goal is to restore the ecological health of the river for local communities, for visitors to the region and for all the invertebrates, fish, mammals and birds that also call it home. They want to make sure it is enjoyed and flourishes for generations to come.

If you are interested in applying for an Environment Grant, submissions will open again in spring 2022. To learn more about the projects and for further updates, follow us on social media and our website.

22 April 2026
Delivering major infrastructure in sensitive environments requires a coordinated approach, bringing together a range of expertise to understand place, manage risk and support informed decision-making. Our work on the North Hykeham Relief Road (NHRR) in Lincolnshire is a strong example of this in practice, with teams from across TEP working together to support the delivery of this long-planned scheme. A long-planned piece of infrastructure The NHRR forms the final section of Lincoln’s ring road, a scheme that has been identified in Local Plans for around twenty years. As the project progressed, it required careful consideration of environmental constraints, historic assets and landscape character, alongside the practicalities of delivering a major new road. Working alongside Balfour Beatty and the wider project team, we provided a range of services spanning heritage and archaeology, planning, landscape, ecology and arboriculture. A coordinated programme of assessment and support underpinned the development of the scheme. Our Historic Environment team established the baseline through desk-based assessment, consultation and phased archaeological evaluation. This work identified areas of interest including sites of prehistoric activity, the important Roman road of Ermine Street, and a potential Roman villa complex, providing valuable insight into the long-term history of the site. These findings directly informed the design process, helping to shape the scheme in response to the site’s archaeological and historical context. The team also assessed potential impacts on sensitive heritage assets, including listed buildings and conservation areas, ensuring that the historic environment was fully considered as the project evolved.
21 April 2026
Bringing the world of books to life for blind or visually impaired children
14 April 2026
TEP is proud to be partnered with the award-winning initiative Time for Geograph y, whic h showcases the importance of geography and the diverse careers it can lead to. Time for Geography is a free, online education platform reaching schools and universities across the UK. Through a series of engaging video resources, it brings geography to life in the classroom, connecting academic learning with real-world challenges such as sustainability, climate change, urban planning and environmental management. Our contribution to the initiative forms part of the platform’s Careers Collection, where our team shares insight into the varied and rewarding pathways geography can open up. These resources are designed to help students understand how their studies translate into professional roles, offering a clearer view of the opportunities available within the environmental sector. We’re delighted that this collaboration has been recognised with a Highly Commended Geographical Association Publishers Award , which celebrates the careers-focused videos and resources developed to guide students towards further education and careers in our industry. With an audience of over 2.5 million this year, Time for Geography is a powerful example of how education and industry can come together to inspire future talent, showing how a subject studied in the classroom can lead to meaningful, real-world careers. For many of our colleagues at TEP, that journey began with a simple interest in geography at school. Today, that interest has grown into careers spanning ecology, arboriculture, heritage, planning, landscape design and environmental management. By sharing these experiences, we hope to encourage the next generation to see geography not only as a fascinating subject, but as a pathway into work that makes a tangible difference. We’re proud to support an initiative that is helping shape the future talent pipeline for our sector, and to inspire the environmental specialists of tomorrow. Learn more and watch our video: 
22 April 2026
Delivering major infrastructure in sensitive environments requires a coordinated approach, bringing together a range of expertise to understand place, manage risk and support informed decision-making. Our work on the North Hykeham Relief Road (NHRR) in Lincolnshire is a strong example of this in practice, with teams from across TEP working together to support the delivery of this long-planned scheme. A long-planned piece of infrastructure The NHRR forms the final section of Lincoln’s ring road, a scheme that has been identified in Local Plans for around twenty years. As the project progressed, it required careful consideration of environmental constraints, historic assets and landscape character, alongside the practicalities of delivering a major new road. Working alongside Balfour Beatty and the wider project team, we provided a range of services spanning heritage and archaeology, planning, landscape, ecology and arboriculture. A coordinated programme of assessment and support underpinned the development of the scheme. Our Historic Environment team established the baseline through desk-based assessment, consultation and phased archaeological evaluation. This work identified areas of interest including sites of prehistoric activity, the important Roman road of Ermine Street, and a potential Roman villa complex, providing valuable insight into the long-term history of the site. These findings directly informed the design process, helping to shape the scheme in response to the site’s archaeological and historical context. The team also assessed potential impacts on sensitive heritage assets, including listed buildings and conservation areas, ensuring that the historic environment was fully considered as the project evolved.
21 April 2026
Bringing the world of books to life for blind or visually impaired children
22 April 2026
Delivering major infrastructure in sensitive environments requires a coordinated approach, bringing together a range of expertise to understand place, manage risk and support informed decision-making. Our work on the North Hykeham Relief Road (NHRR) in Lincolnshire is a strong example of this in practice, with teams from across TEP working together to support the delivery of this long-planned scheme. A long-planned piece of infrastructure The NHRR forms the final section of Lincoln’s ring road, a scheme that has been identified in Local Plans for around twenty years. As the project progressed, it required careful consideration of environmental constraints, historic assets and landscape character, alongside the practicalities of delivering a major new road. Working alongside Balfour Beatty and the wider project team, we provided a range of services spanning heritage and archaeology, planning, landscape, ecology and arboriculture. A coordinated programme of assessment and support underpinned the development of the scheme. Our Historic Environment team established the baseline through desk-based assessment, consultation and phased archaeological evaluation. This work identified areas of interest including sites of prehistoric activity, the important Roman road of Ermine Street, and a potential Roman villa complex, providing valuable insight into the long-term history of the site. These findings directly informed the design process, helping to shape the scheme in response to the site’s archaeological and historical context. The team also assessed potential impacts on sensitive heritage assets, including listed buildings and conservation areas, ensuring that the historic environment was fully considered as the project evolved.
21 April 2026
Bringing the world of books to life for blind or visually impaired children
14 April 2026
TEP is proud to be partnered with the award-winning initiative Time for Geograph y, whic h showcases the importance of geography and the diverse careers it can lead to. Time for Geography is a free, online education platform reaching schools and universities across the UK. Through a series of engaging video resources, it brings geography to life in the classroom, connecting academic learning with real-world challenges such as sustainability, climate change, urban planning and environmental management. Our contribution to the initiative forms part of the platform’s Careers Collection, where our team shares insight into the varied and rewarding pathways geography can open up. These resources are designed to help students understand how their studies translate into professional roles, offering a clearer view of the opportunities available within the environmental sector. We’re delighted that this collaboration has been recognised with a Highly Commended Geographical Association Publishers Award , which celebrates the careers-focused videos and resources developed to guide students towards further education and careers in our industry. With an audience of over 2.5 million this year, Time for Geography is a powerful example of how education and industry can come together to inspire future talent, showing how a subject studied in the classroom can lead to meaningful, real-world careers. For many of our colleagues at TEP, that journey began with a simple interest in geography at school. Today, that interest has grown into careers spanning ecology, arboriculture, heritage, planning, landscape design and environmental management. By sharing these experiences, we hope to encourage the next generation to see geography not only as a fascinating subject, but as a pathway into work that makes a tangible difference. We’re proud to support an initiative that is helping shape the future talent pipeline for our sector, and to inspire the environmental specialists of tomorrow. Learn more and watch our video: