George Barker speaks to Gerry Howe, the managing director of Stabilised Pavements Ltd, about his recent win of the Highways Fellowship Award at the inaugural Highways Champions Awards.
Gerry Howe has spent just shy of 50 years of his life working to improve how we build, maintain and recycle our roads, with a particular focus on advancing in-situ road recycling to improve the sustainability of highways maintenance.
His character, leadership and professionalism have meant a huge amount to the highways sector, and it is gratifying that, in turn, his Highways Fellowship Award means a lot to him.
He said: ‘It means recognition after all these years. For years as a business, we've been saying this time next year, recycling will finally come to fruition. And I think being recognised today, hopefully in-situ recycling will come to the forefront. People keep talking about it, but if we were to close tomorrow, there would be no more in-situ recycling in the UK, which is a real concern for us as a family.'
Mr Howe's passion to increase recycling in road maintenance is genuine - he has made sacrifices to focus on what he believes is right, not just for his company, but for the industry as a whole.
‘I think it's important that we do recycle roads, especially in-situ recycling, for the carbon saving. You can reduce carbon and save money as well.'
Since 2006, Mr Howe has helped grow Stabilised Pavements into a UK leader in in-situ recycling and co-developed the British Standard for road recycling. Anyone would think that this would come near the top of his biggest achievements, and while he is immensely proud of this – and deservedly so – it's something a little closer to home that tops the list.
‘My biggest achievement really,' he explains, ‘is bringing my family into the business.'
Mr Howe wraps up by saying that it is his team and ‘everybody that works for me' that have helped him become a part of the first class of Highways Fellows.
