economic value
“We’re delighted to be working in partnership with Forth Ports at the Port of Tilbury to create the UK’s largest construction aggregates terminal. It demonstrates our firm commitment to the development of industry leading infrastructure to support the delivery of the UK’s long-term built environment ambitions.”
Martin Riley, Senior Vice President of Tarmac
highlights
We are proud of our performance in 2019 and have continued to invest in our business. We have also continued to develop relationships with our key strategic customers and at the end of 2019 aligned our business structure to enable us to respond to national projects now and in the future, like HS2, the Northern Powerhouse and the Midlands Engine, as well as the national infrastructure plan and its pipeline of work .
We have continued to grow our business and have maintained our focused growth strategy with a number of strategic investments in 2019. We received the green light to start construction of a new asphalt plant in Birmingham. We were also pleased to have secured the marine sand dredging rights for the Bristol Channel, providing a long term natural sand source for our customers in south west England and south Wales for at least the next 15 years.
To help provide long term security of our aggregate supply into the south east of England we have partnered with London’s fastest growing port, the Port of Tilbury, to create the UK’s largest construction materials aggregates terminal at Tilbury2. The new port development is being constructed on the north bank of the River Thames. The development of Tilbury2 is essential for the Port of Tilbury and helps to provide long term security for aggregate supply to accommodate the growing demand from our customers to support vital housing and infrastructure in this region.
Meanwhile, our new Infrastructure team, part of our Construction business unit, started work. The team has been created from a former joint venture with Carillion and its formation provides continuity and continued delivery of critical highways projects for customers. The new team brings with it its expertise as principal contractor to multi-million-pound projects for ports and harbours, the defence sector and Local Authority infrastructure. Throughout the year, they have been working on several major civil engineering works which are already nearing completion. A pipeline of prestigious projects are planned for 2020.
We have also continued to invest in our most important asset, our people. In an industry first, training programmes have begun at our new world class training facility, The National Skills and Safety Park, at Nether Langwith Quarry, Nottinghamshire. This will be the hub for Tarmac’s Professional Operator Development Programme and includes, classroom facilities, virtual reality training tools and working areas, where employees train in a controlled environment on the actual plant and equipment they will use in their jobs . We have also continued to develop our people through our graduate, apprenticeship and the learning and development programmes.
In 2019 the UK Parliament, Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly, along with over 300 Local Authorities covering roughly 70 per cent of the population, declared a ‘Climate Emergency’. This was followed up by the UK Government setting a legally binding target to achieve ‘net zero’ greenhouse gas emissions for England by 2050. The Scottish Government committed to net zero by 2045 and the Welsh Government committed to a 90 per cent reduction by 2050. Local Authorities that have declared a ‘Climate Emergency’ have six months to develop their action plan stating what they are going to do to reduce climate impact.
In response to this we wrote to about 200 Councilors’ who represent those authorities, to offer support and advice to help them produce their action plans. Tarmac offer a range of solutions that can support adaptation and mitigation of climate change. We also welcome the opportunity to work with local authorities to overcome some of the historical barriers to embedding sustainable innovation arising from lack of awareness of solutions and restrictive specifications and procurement rules.
Tarmac is part of CRH PLC and as such our 2019 financial performance and tax contributions are disclosed in the CRH PLC financial reports