A firm has been rewarded for transforming a defunct 100 year-old quarry in the Yorkshire Dales.

Lafarge Tarmac has won an award for restoring the 51-hectare Threshfield Quarry by planting trees and opening up footpaths for use by walkers and “trampers” in cross-country wheelchairs.

They also created viewing platforms and reinstated thousands of metres of dry stone walling after removing industrial buildings, plant and machinery.

The commendation, from the Mineral Products Association (MPA), was announced at the MPA’s Restoration and Biodiversity Awards at the Royal Society in London.

Gary Smith, director of conservation at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, said: “This is a great example of how a former quarry can be transformed.

“Alongside the environmental benefits, the site has really been opened up into a resource that can be used and enjoyed by the local community and the thousands of visitors who come to this area.”

Lafarge Tarmac estates manager Nick Beale said: “By working with the national park and Threshfield Quarry Development Trust, an extremely valuable countryside and community asset is being created.”

Restoration activities were undertaken with advice from national park staff.

As well as viewing platforms and the reinstatement of dry stone walling, a safe haven for white-clawed crayfish – an endangered species whose numbers have dwindled in recent years – had also been set up in a series of three large ponds in the lower quarry area.

Future development of the site, for the benefit of the wider community, is being overseen by Threshfield Quarry Development Trust, whose emphasis is on education, cultural heritage, arts and the natural environment.

Development trust chairman Roger Martlew said: “We are looking at sympathetic economic development activities that will contribute to the local economy. This is a major, long-term project that addresses the needs of people and nature in an innovative and sustainable way.”