Tarmac unveil new £6.6 million asphalt plant in Hertfordshire
State-of-the-art, low emissions plant to boost company’s asphalt supply capacity across London and South East
TARMAC have unveiled a new Benninghoven BA5000U asphalt plant located inside the M25 at Harper Lane, in Hertfordshire. Supplied by Wirtgen, the £6.6 million plant is part of the company’s strategy to support the UK’s infrastructure growth, including a planned £15 billion investment in strategic roads that will see 1,300 miles of new lanes added to motorways and A-roads over the next five years.
The Harper Lane facility has greater capacity, is more efficient and manufactures a wide range of products, including lower temperature asphalts. According to Tarmac, it is also the first UK plant to use high-capacity, cold recycled asphalt planings (RAP) technology to create mixes containing up to 55% recycled content, supporting the company’s commitment to increase the amount of waste it reuses each year.
The well-located plant has good rail links, bringing essential road stone into the South East to supply the region’s 18 new major road projects, including the upgrade of one-third of the junctions on the M25 and improvements to the A27.
Cyrille Ragoucy (pictured second from the left), CEO of Tarmac, said: ‘The UK’s strategic road infrastructure plays a critical role in securing the country’s continuing social and economic development, and unlocking its future prosperity. Tarmac is well placed to support customers in achieving the UK’s infrastructure plans by providing the solutions, expertise and innovation to help deliver projects in a smarter, more efficient and sustainable manner.’
The Harper Lane plant is part of a major investment that Tarmac are making in their aggregate and asphalt footprint across the south of England over the next 18 months.
The investment programme will see Tarmac’s Aggregates and Asphalt and Contracting businesses create more than 115 new jobs in the region over the next three years. Addressing the skills shortages in the industry, Tarmac have also taken on more than 90 new apprentices, higher apprentices and graduate trainees and, during 2015/2016, a further 33 graduates, 80 apprentices, five higher apprentices will be added to the company’s business units.
