Gloucester Gateway built with Hope concrete

Concrete from Hope Construction Materials chosen for Britain’s newest motorway service station

BRITAIN’s newest service station – opening in June 2014 between junctions 11a and 12 on the M5 in Gloucestershire – has been built with 5,000 cubic metres of concrete supplied by Hope Construction Materials, Britain’s leading independent construction materials company.

Hope’s high-quality ready-mixed concrete, combined with an easy-access local plant network, helped the company win the contract to supply the construction of the Gloucester Gateway Services.

Hope have been working in partnership with Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd to supply the concrete for the £40 million Gloucester Gateway project, which is being led by an innovative alliance between Westmorland Ltd and local charity the Gloucester Gateway Trust.

Gloucester Services is the sister project for the famed Tebay Services on the M6 in Cumbria, which is the UK’s only family-owned and run motorway service area, with a business approach that is entirely different – ie farm shops and kitchens selling and making proper food rather than the typical franchises.

As well as delivering economic benefits by using local suppliers rather than big brands and franchises, it has also been designed to deliver both environmental benefits, through meeting the environmental standard of BREEAM Excellent, and local community benefits, through the Gloucester Gateway Trust, which will see profits ploughed back into community projects around the Brookthorpe area.

Hope’s nearby plant at Gloucester has been delivering concrete to the site between junctions 11a and 12 at Brookthorpe since April, and the company is now nearing completion of the contract, which will see northbound services open in summer 2014, with the southbound facility following later.

Hope Construction Materials’ area commercial manager, Tom Waddington, commented: ‘The contract has given us an opportunity to work on a prestigious opportunity with Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd, for the award-winning Westmorland. We have supplied our concrete products for foundations and ground engineering works, as well as pavement concrete designs.

‘Our product quality and location close to the construction site have delivered an additional level of confidence to Buckingham Group Contracting and it’s been a pleasure to work with them on this project, which has complementary values to our own – entrepreneurial, responsible, reliable and understanding.

Tim Brown, partner/director of Buckingham Group, added: Buckingham Group are naturally delighted to be working with Westmorland Ltd and the Gloucester Gateway Trust on this prestigious, high-profile and unique project to create a new motorway service area modelled on the famous Tebay Services.

‘Working with Hope Construction Materials’ Gloucester team supports our, and Westmorland’s, aims to maximize the benefits of the project for local people and local businesses, by ensuring the largest possible volume of work is placed with local businesses.’