Posts Tagged ‘Take’

Canada and Alberta Take Action to Implement World Class Monitoring System for the Oil Sands

Canada and Alberta Take Action to Implement World Class Monitoring System for the Oil Sands . EDMONTON, Alta — February 3, 2012 — Increased air, water, land and biodiversity monitoring in the oil sands will begin this year as the Government of Canada and Government of Alberta take a major step forward in their partnership to improve environmental monitoring in the oil sands region.
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Environment Agency: Ground investigation works to take place in Boston

The Environment Agency is to carry out a survey of the ground below the bed of the Boston Haven as part of its ongoing work towards a proposed multi-million flood barrier for the town.

Contractors will be working round-the-clock from a special barge to carry out ground investigations to gain detailed information about the geology and ground conditions beneath the riverbed. The information will be used by engineers during the design of the Boston Barrier and Haven flood defence improvements.

Mike Dugher, Area Coastal Manager at the Environment Agency, said: “The works are a vital step towards the proposed Boston Barrier. They will ensure the final design of the scheme is as effective as it can be in helping to prevent flooding and improving the river for navigation.”

The static barge that is being used during the ground investigations will be fitted with an echo barrier to help keep noise disruption to a minimum. Samples will also be taken from the right hand river bank and the condition of the concrete quay wall in the port will also be assessed. Drilling work on the river banks  will take place mainly during the day although there may be a need for some night-time working. Drilling from the barge will take place 24-hours a day.

Mike said: “We apologise for any disturbance these works may cause to people living and working in the area. They are, however, crucial to the development of the barrier and we hope people will understand this and work with us until they are completed.”

Boston Borough Councillor Peter Bedford said: “I hope people will be tolerant if there is noise disturbance. This work is vital for the greater good of Boston in helping to reduce flood risk and take us forward in terms of future development.”

A total of 16 holes will be drilled at locations between Black Sluice Lock and the disused jetty on the right bank of the river, opposite Silo Berth in the Port of Boston.

The works, which are due to start on Monday, 30 January, will take between three and four weeks to complete. They are expected to finish on Friday, 24 February. Later in the year, further ground investigations will take place on land as part of the pre-design process.

A safety boat will be operating on the Haven between the static barge and the port to minimise risk to river users.

The preferred option for the location of the Boston flood barrier – just downstream of Black Sluice Lock – was announced by the Environment Agency in October 2011.

Once built, the barrier will help to manage tidal flood risk and reduce the risk of flooding to thousands of homes and businesses. It will also provide opportunities to regenerate Boston’s waterways and will achieve a significant milestone for the Fens Waterways Link vision to connect the cathedral cities of Lincoln, Ely and Peterborough.

The barrier, along with improvement works to existing flood defences through the town, will increase the standard of protection to 0.33 percent probability (one in 300 chance) of flooding from a tidal surge in any one year. This will reduce the current flood risk as the standard of protection today only provides a two percent probability (one in 50 chance) of flooding from a tidal event in any year.

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Shangri-La hotels take shark fin soup off the menu

Shark fin soup is served at a wedding banquet
Shark fin soup is a billion-dollar industry responsible for killing between 26 and 73 million sharks per year. Photograph: Paul Hilton/EPA

The campaign to reduce the demand for shark fins achieved its greatest victory to date on Wednesday when the Shangri-la hotel group announced that it would no longer serve the dish, which is decimating populations of the ocean predator.

The resort company, which operates 72 hotels, took the step just days before the Chinese spring festival, the main season for shark fin soup consumption at banquets in Hong Kong and the mainland.

It is estimated that between 26 million and 73 million sharks are killed each year to supply this billion-dollar industry. Almost a third are consumed during Chinese new year.

But conservationists’ efforts to reduce demand have gained pace and prominence in the past year, particularly since WildAid international ambassador and basketball star Yao Ming spoke out against shark fin soup.

In November, the Peninsula hotel became the first traditional hotel in Hong Kong – the centre of the trade – to remove the dish from its restaurants. It was followed by 112 companies who signed up to a “Say No” initiative to remove shark fin from corporate banquets.

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has now gone a step further by unveiling a “sustainable seafood policy” that also includes a commitment to phase out the use of other endangered marine species, including Bluefin tuna and Chilean sea bass.

The company had previously taken shark fin off its restaurant menus, but offered the dish on demand.

The move was welcomed by conservationists as a sign that some major corporations are starting to take sustainability more seriously.

“This is very significant. Two leading hotel groups have now sent a very strong message to the food and beverage industry and the wedding industry. I don’t see why others don’t follow suit,” said Bertha Lo of the Hong Kong Shark Foundation.

However, there is still a long way to go. The foundation’s recent survey of 64 leading Hong Kong hotels found that 98% served at least one endangered marine species. Almost all included shark fin, which is particularly popular at wedding banquets. Very few had policies for sustainable seafood sourcing.

Conservationists said corporate social responsibility programmes had improved in recent years to include energy efficiency and carbon dioxide emissions, but still usually neglected impacts on wildlife.

“We are seeing announcements one by one, but it is not enough just to stop serving shark fin,” said Stanley Shea of Bloom Association, a Hong Kong-based NGO. “Hotels also need to put in place public policies on sustainable seafood sourcing.”

The government in Hong Kong has yet to act, although surveys by the Bloom foundation suggest that 88% of consumers want the authorities to prevent sales of products that involve killing threatened species.

It is believed the mainland could move faster than the territory – as it has done with air pollution. But most hotels in Chinese cities will continue to serve shark fin as a traditional part of the festivities to usher in the year of the dragon on 23 January.

Among them is the Grand Hyatt in Beijing, which was offering a new year special spring festival banquet of 888 yuan (£91.50) per person, including shark fin soup. Outside of the holiday season, it offers the soup alone from 468 yuan (£48) to over a thousand yuan. “It depends on the type of shark. We have all types,” a restaurant employee said.

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npower employees and Leicester students to take trip to Arctic Circle

Four Leicester University students and four npower employees will be taking a trip of a lifetime to the Arctic Circle after winning npower’s Future Leaders competition. The intrepid group will visit the land of the Midnight Sun to dog sled over 200 km from a base camp into the wilds of Europe’s most northern country.

The team of undergraduates from The University of Leicester found out that they had won the competition at a ceremony at npower’s Rainton House attended by RWE npower Chief Operating Officer, Kevin McCullough.

The npower competition, which launched in June 2011, involved teams of students from universities across the UK, who each had to run a green sustainability project around their University. All teams had to produce films of their campaign from start to finish and submit to npower’s judging panel, who ultimately judged the best team as winners of this prestigious prize.

The Leicester team came up with a project called ‘Planet on Standby’ which engaged young people to challenge their use of energy and the effects we have on the environment. The campaign focused on a regional education program for three levels of education which was rolled out to local schools, colleges and Leicester University. The team also created beer mats to reach a much wider audience, promoting ideas on how to save energy, the planet on standby website and of course, npower.

David Gray, Team Leader for Planet on Standby commented: “We can’t believe we’re off to the Arctic in March! It’s an absolute trip of a lifetime and one which we think will be a real challenge. We worked extremely hard on our campaign which has reached over 200,000 people and is still growing. We look forward to its further self-sustained success regionally and nationally.”

Kevin McCullough of npower commented: “Congratulations to Planet on Standby, the Leicester University team, on winning the prestigious Future Leaders Challenge that has offered a platform for students to help them develop specific skills for their future. I am positive that their project will continue to develop and that they will have inspired others to consider how they too can make a difference.

“We developed the npower Future Leaders Challenge to find undergraduates with passion and drive and I believe we have unearthed that passion and also found real climate change champions in this competition.”

Heading off to the Arctic with the Planet on Standby team will be the four npower employees who all created individual sustainability projects, ranging from a bus service created to cut business miles, save money and reduce npower’s carbon footprint, through to a project that harvests rainwater to reduce the environmental impact on the surrounding area at npower’s Pembroke power station.

About RWE npower:
RWE npower is an integrated energy business, generating electricity and supplying gas, electricity and related services to customers across the UK. It operates and manages flexible, low-cost coal, oil and gas-fired power stations – generating over 11 GW of electricity. It serves around 6.5 million customer accounts and produces more than 10% of the electricity used in England and Wales. It is also on twitter (@npowerhq), Facebook and Youtube.

PR Contact:
Kelly Brown
npower
Bridgwater Road
Worcester
WR4 9FP
0845 070 2807
www.npower.com
Custom Release Wire

Shoppers at Luxe Moroccan Mall Take Elevator through Conical Acrylic…

Casablanca, Morocco (PRWEB) January 03, 2012

The cone-shaped aquarium with an inner acrylic cylinder housing a glass elevator recently debuted at the new Morocco Mall in Casablanca. Aquadream, the 31 foot tall (9.3 meter) acrylic aquarium designed and built by International Concept Management, Inc. (ICM), is the centerpiece of the luxury giga-mall along Morocco’s coast.

ICM designed the aquarium to offer an engaging experience, emphasizing education and the importance of preserving the world’s oceans. To accomplish this, ICM designed and built an aquarium that would literally immerse guests into a coral reef environment.

The result is an aquarium holding 264,000 gallons (one million liters) of saltwater. The outside of the aquarium resembles an upside-down cone with a glass elevator traveling in a clear R-Cast acrylic tube to transport shoppers to the mall’s top floor. The five minute ride takes guests through a tropical reef, getting them nose-to-nose with sharks, rays, and thousands of other fish while educating them about ocean life.

“ICM gained a wealth of knowledge when constructing the AquaDom cylindrical aquarium in Berlin,” explained Roger R. Reynolds III, CEO of ICM and acrylic panel manufacturer Reynolds Polymer Technology, Inc. (RPT). “Aquadream presented challenges in the complexity of the design and execution, but with our collective expertise, we successfully designed and built the aquarium to fulfill the vision of the project while maintaining our strict safety standards.”

One of the challenges facing ICM was expected earthquake activity. With Casablanca situated in a relatively high seismic zone, safety was paramount in the design. ICM’s solution kept the aquarium as a freestanding structure sitting on its own concrete slab separate from the mall. This cushions it against tremors and isolates it from any movement the rest of the mall may be experiencing during an earthquake. As testament to ICM’s solid engineering and design, two small tremors rippled through during the construction of the aquarium without damaging any component of the structure.

Transporting the aquarium from the port to the job site also required extra planning – and police involvement. A convoy of four oversized trucks hauled the outer cylinder sections to the job site at 3 a.m. with a police escort to ensure that the acrylic panels arrive safely and that motorists were alerted of the oversized objects on the road.

“While the design, manufacturing, and installation were all quite technical, we had considerable experience to rely on to do everything exactly as it should be done,” said Andrius Vengalis, ICM’s on-site Project Manager for the aquarium, referring to other complex freestanding aquariums with an elevator in the design and earthquake-resistant aquariums ICM designed and built. “Seeing the finished aquarium and the excitement from the crowds when the mall opened made all that work well worth it.”

ICM not only designed, built, and commissioned the aquarium, but managed the installation in its entirety. That included designing, sourcing, and installing the reef in the tank for an accurate, functional, and safe replication of an environment for the fish; selecting and sourcing aquatic animals that successfully cohabitate; and designing and installing the lighting, filtration systems, and control panels for the aquarium. All systems have fail-safes that keep the aquarium running at minimal, but safe, levels until the full system can be restored, such as in the event of a power failure.

RPT assisted ICM in the engineering and manufacture of all the R-Cast acrylic panels used in the construction of Aquadream and helped with the on-site assembly. Because the finished outer cylinder was too large to ship in one piece, RPT fabricated it in seven sections. Once on-site, RPT and ICM teams bonded the pieces together to create the conical exterior. The inner cylinder arrived fully-assembled – from sister company RPT Asia, Ltd. in Thailand – which was then lowered into the center of the aquarium.

The exterior of the aquarium is nearly 40 feet in diameter (12.1 meters) at the bottom of the cone and nearly 44 feet in diameter (13.4 meters) at the top, with acrylic panels more than 26 feet (7.8 meters) tall and 4.7 inches thick (12cm). The inner cylinder is 11 feet in diameter (3.4 meters) and four inches thick (10cm). In total, the aquarium holds more than 1,000 metric tons of saltwater.

The state-of-the-art life support system makes saltwater using fresh city water and artificial sea salt while filtering 100 percent of the water every hour. The backwash recovery system allows for the reuse of aquarium water through a unique process which creates efficiency and translates into significant operational savings.

The aquarium will house nearly 3,000 aquatic animals representing 41 different species and is open to the public during normal mall hours. Guests may take an educational elevator ride through the aquarium to the top floor of the mall for a small fee or opt for a diving session in the tank.

About International Concept Management, Inc.

International Concept Management, Inc. is a unique design and build firm that creates custom aquariums, water features, and other themed environments that inspire, educate, and entertain visitors. They have currently been awarded the construction of the largest public aquarium in South America. This aquarium project is being built in Fortaleza, Brazil. ICM is recognized around the world for their daring designs and creativity that continually push the limits of spatial, interior, and exhibit designs. Many of the projects are focal points of some of the most well-known museums, zoos, and aquariums in hotels, restaurants, and retail chains around the world. ICM is headquartered in Grand Junction, Colorado with operations around the world. Visit http://www.icm-corp.com for more information.

About Reynolds Polymer Technology, Inc.

Reynolds Polymer Technology, Inc. has completed more than 1,600 projects in 53 countries in their nearly 30 years in business. RPT is known as the leading manufacturer, fabricator, designer, and installer of R-Cast® acrylic and resin sheets. In fact, RPT is the only acrylic aquarium panel manufacturer in the U.S. Their products have been used extensively in the architectural, signage, aquarium, water-retaining, and scientific industries worldwide, including major projects in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. RPT is constantly raising the standard for what can be done with acrylic and resins. Headquartered in Grand Junction, Colorado, RPT also has operations in Rayong, Thailand. Visit http://www.reynoldspolymer.com for more information. Proud member of the U.S. Green Building Council.

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Environment

Remember to take a carrier bag when you go Christmas shopping

Legislative programme 2011 - 2012

The Welsh Legislative Programme is announced by the First Minister following the election of a new Welsh Government. Its legislative priorities and aspirations are outlined for its 5 year term and are updated annually.

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Environment and countryside

Baltic seaduck take a dive

Baltic seaduck take a dive

Ken Kinsella

On Wednesday 1 December, a new report presenting the results of a census of wintering waterbirds in the Baltic Sea has been launched. The studies reveal that overall numbers have declined by more than 40% since the 1990s.

To read the full report “Waterbird populations and Pressures in the Baltic Sea”, please clik here

Internationally coordinated counts were undertaken in 2007-2009 under the SOWBAS project (“Status of wintering waterbird populations in the Baltic Sea”), funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The total number of wintering waterbirds was estimated at 4.41 million, compared to 7.44 million during the last census in 1992-1993.

Of the 20 species covered, 11 decreased, including 7 that declined by more than 30%. The strongest declines were suffered by seaduck. Numbers of Long-tailed Duck, the most numerous wintering waterbird in the Baltic, declined by 65%, with similar declines recorded for Steller’s Eider (Vulnerable) and Velvet Scoter. Common Eider, Common Scoter and Red-breasted Merganser all declined by between 42% and 51%.

For some of these species, the Baltic is the most important wintering area in the world, holding the majority of their global populations. These declines are therefore of global concern, and could have implications for the species’ status on the IUCN Red List.

BirdLife has combined these results with available data from other parts of the world to review the species’ global status and propose appropriate changes. Detailed proposals are available for comment (until January 2012) on BirdLife’s Globally Threatened Bird Forums: http://www.birdlife.org/globally-threatened-bird-forums/

Most of these seaduck concentrate in the southern Baltic, but unlike some other waterbirds, no consistent climate-driven northward shift in their winter distribution was detected. However, climate change may be affecting them in other ways. Many of these species breed mainly in the Russian arctic or tundra, where they may be suffering from climate-induced ecosystem changes. Recent monitoring in autumn, as these birds arrive in the Baltic, has revealed worryingly low proportions of juveniles, implicating unsustainably low recruitment on the breeding grounds.

Other factors could also be involved, such as over-harvesting of certain species, or oil discharges from ships, which are known to cause significant extra mortality in some parts of the Baltic. Changes in nutrient loads could also be having an impact, and the report stresses the importance of eutrophication in determining food availability and thus the abundance and distribution of waterbirds. Finally, incidental bycatch in gill-nets has been reported in several Baltic fisheries, with diving species like seaduck being particularly susceptible.

Now that the trends of these species are known, the top priority is to diagnose and address the causes of their declines. Experience suggests that this is best achieved by bringing together key experts from across the species’ range to make progress in a coordinated and effective manner, at a flyway population scale and with international cooperation.

Discussions to organise a conservation planning workshop in 2012 have already begun, involving the IUCN-SSC/WI Duck Specialist Group, the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, BirdLife International, Wetlands International and the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement.

Related posts:

  1. State of the World’s Waterbirds: in trouble in Asia, recovering in ‘the West’ The rate of decline of waterbird populations has slightly decreased over the last three decades….
  2. International Waterbird Symposium in The Hague celebrates 15 years of flyway conservation in action The 15th Anniversary of the African-Eurasian Migratoy Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) will is being celebrated at…
  3. Birds Fly into the Red The worst fears of shorebird experts in Australia were realised recently when it became clear…

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BirdLife Community

BirdLife team helps Convention on Migratory Species take significant steps forward for the conservation of migratory birds

BirdLife team helps Convention on Migratory Species take significant steps forward for the conservation of migratory birds

The Whitethroat is one of many landbird species whose population have declined (John-Bridges/rspb-images)

The 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) made a number of decisions that should lead to significant improvements in the conservation status of the world’s migratory birds.

As well as agreeing a new policy framework for streamlining of conservation work across the world’s flyways, resolutions were adopted that should see the development of a flyway action plan for African-Eurasian landbirds, the development of guidelines on minimizing poisoning of birds and the application of updated guidelines on minimizing the impacts of powerlines on birds.

“The excellent spirit of collaboration among delegates from both the governmental and non-governmental sectors as well as other stakeholders at COP10 was a demonstration that the CMS is THE global intergovernmental framework for delivering on the ground species conservation” said Nicola Crockford, head of the BirdLife delegation. “The CMS’s importance for delivering BirdLife’s conservation objectives continues to grow as its future shape evolves.”

Resolution 10.27 on Improving the Conservation Status of Migratory Landbirds in the African Eurasian Region was proposed by Ghana following a meeting with the High Commissioner for Ghana at the British Birdwatching Fair in August. The resolution seeks to improve the conservation status of these mostly passerine species, which are probably declining faster than any other suite of birds in the region.

Most African-Eurasian migratory landbirds are not covered by current flyway initiatives and conservation activities. They tend to be widely dispersed, migrating over a broad front, and face a range of different threats on their breeding, passage and wintering grounds. To address these, thanks to the support of the Government of Switzerland, an international action plan will be developed during the course of the next three years coordinated through the forum of the CMS.

The Tenth Conference of the Parties (COP 10) of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) may well have been one of the most significant so far in advancing the conservation of migratory birds.

The meeting also adopted Resolution 10.26 on Minimising the Risk of Poisoning to Migratory Birds as proposed by Switzerland. Funding is being sought to develop the first ever global guidelines on how to combat the threat of poisoning.

Resolution 10.11 on Power Lines and Migratory Species provided an important update on guidelines to minimize the impact of powerlines on migratory birds.

BirdLife also proposed paragraphs adopted in resolutions on synergies and partnerships and on capacity building to promote the concept of national biodiversity working groups to ensure on the ground implementation of the biodiversity conventions.

With the adoption of Resolution 10.10 on Guidance on Global Flyway Conservation and Options for Policy Arrangements, developed by the CMS Flyway Working Group of which BirdLife was a member, for the first time a proposed overarching framework was provided for all work under CMS on migratory birds.

The globally Vulnerable Far Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis, Bristle-thighed Curlew Numenius tahitiensis and Saker Falcon Falco cherrug were added to Appendix 1 (migratory species in danger of extinction), together with the Red-footed Falcon Falco vespertinus, and the Bobolink Dolichonyx oryzivorus to Appendix II (migratory species that would benefit significantly from international co-operation).

BirdLife and its Partners hosted and co-hosted a number of side events on topics including Global Waterbird Flyway Conservation best practice, with a focus on East Asian intertidal habitats and the Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper Eurynorhynchus pygmeus; the Vulnerable Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola (APB, BirdLife in Belarus); Vulnerable Lesser White-fronted Goose Anser erythropus (NOF, BirdLife in Norway); the MOU on South American Grasslands (Guyra Paraguay); and the Saiga Antelope Saiga tatarica (ACBK, BirdLife in Kazakhstan).

Dr Leon Bennun, BirdLife’s Director of Science, was elected CMS Appointed Councillor for Birds.

Related posts:

  1. 10th conference of Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species The BirdLife International Partnership seek endorsement for conference resolutions which, if adopted, could help halt…
  2. Minimising the risk of poisoning to migratory birds Poisoning – both deliberate and accidental – is one of the major problems facing migratory…
  3. Only international action will save migratory birds Populations of long-distance migratory landbirds are declining rapidly in the African-Eurasian flyway and urgent actions…

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BirdLife Community

Homes and Communities Agency: New homes take shape at Stockton’s Northshore scheme

The partners lay the next set of bricks (right to left Simon Dew, Muse Developments; Frances Barlow, TeesValley Unlimited; Chris Munro, HCA; Simon Hogg, Lovell and Richard Poundford, Stockton Council.

The first phase of the £300m housing and regeneration scheme at Northshore in Stockton is gathering momentum, with the partners recently meeting on site to help the construction team lay the next level of bricks.

Vivo – the name given to the initial phase of homes – is being developed by Muse in partnership with sister company and award winning housebuilder, Lovell, and is supported by Stockton Council and Tees Valley Housing. The land was remediated by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

Simon Dew from Muse commented: “Northshore is one of the most exciting regeneration projects in the north, progress on site is going fantastically well and we’re looking forward to showing the public around when the show home opens early next year.”

Simon Hogg, operations director for Lovell, added: “We’ve had a huge amount of interest from local people since we opened the marketing suite at Vivo and a number of off-plan reservations are already in place, which is extremely encouraging. It shows buyers share our vision for the future and can really imagine what this area will be like as it transforms over the coming months.”

Stockton Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development, Councillor Mike Smith, said: “The Northshore scheme is an important part of the multi-million pound regeneration of Stockton Borough and it is fantastic to see the development progress so quickly. Stockton is already a great place to live and work and I’m certain these high quality new family homes will encourage even more people to live here.”

Vivo will comprise 50 two, three and four bedroom houses built to Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4. The properties will lead the way in urban design and sustainability, setting a benchmark for future development in the town. New residents will benefit from some of the best energy-saving systems available, including photovoltaic panels, rainwater harvesting and smart meters. The scheme has been carefully designed to take advantage of its prominent south facing, waterside location. 

The site, which was prepared for development in a multi-million pound remediation programme led by the HCA,already features the award-winning Infinity Bridge.

“Vivo will be a great place to live, with high-quality, sustainable homes and easy access to Stockton town centre,” said Chris Munro, area manager at the HCA. “The new development is an exciting step forward for Northshore, building on our earlier investment in reclaiming the site for productive use.” 

Martin Hawthorne, group director of development and regeneration for Fabrick, the parent company of Tees Valley Housing, said: “We are really pleased to be a partner in this exciting regeneration development in Stockton.  We are providing two different tenure options for these homes which we hope will make this scheme a sustainable development in the future.”

The homes at Vivo are located in a superb waterfront location on North Shore Road, within walking distance of the town centre, which will benefit from £20m investment over the next five years. Two stylish show homes by interior specialists Claude Hooper will be unveiled to the public in January 2012. 

» Read more about Northshore

ENDS

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