Suttle Stone Quarries bolster position through acquisition
Company acquires Swanworth Quarry from Tarmac and appoints new director of quarrying
SUTTLE Stone Quarries have strengthened their position as one of the leading providers of natural stone and aggregates in Dorset with the acquisition of Swanworth Quarry, near Worth Matravers, from Tarmac.
In addition, the Isle of Purbeck-based company has also recently acquired the shares of J Suttle Swanage Quarries Ltd, operators of California Quarry on the outskirts of Swanage.
According to director Chris Suttle, the company plans to continue the restoration plan for Swanworth Quarry and also aims to make more use of the Portland stone beds at the quarry for dimension stone.
‘It’s a beautiful stone and has lots of benefits as dimension stone for building, which I don’t believe have been fully exploited previously,’ he said. ‘We will still continue with our crushing operation but the opportunity to sell dimension stone helps to ensure the viability of the quarry.’
Meanwhile, the 35-acre California Quarry will continue to provide Purbeck stone for building, flooring and paving work.
The operation of both quarries, as well the company’s recycled products depot at Mannings Heath, in Poole, is now the responsibility of Simon Clabburn (pictured), who recently joined Suttle Stone Quarries as director of quarrying. As well as managing day-to-day operations, he will be involved in the longer-term resource and land management of the three sites.
Mr Clabburn has extensive experience of quarry management across the UK having started his career as a management trainee with ARC in 1994 and going on to become a regional operations manager with Hanson. He has also worked for Grundon as aggregates manager and prior to joining Suttle Stone Quarries was quarry manager at Goonvean, in Cornwall.
Commenting on his new position, Mr Clabburn said: ‘I’m looking forward to the diversity and challenge that the role will bring. As well as managing day-to-day operations, I’ll be exploring how long we can mine from the particular quarries and how we can restore them and be responsible for their general future planning and development.’
