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APRIL 2014 Meeting supply and demand


Andrew Bradshaw, director of contracting at Aggregate Industries, talks to Highways Magazine about how the company proposes to meet the challenges facing the industry over the coming years


With the government announcing that it plans to invest £24 billion on upgrading and improving the network until 2021, the growth in demand for materials will be a massive challenge for our industry, not just for Aggregate Industries.


The lack of investment within the infrastructure sector over recent years has led to consolidation in the market place and inevitably closures of key business installations by everyone. This is now being compounded by shortfalls in transportation and logistics across the network, both in road and rail.


We are well positioned to meet this market upturn with the key installations we have across the UK and in Europe. We are investing heavily in extensions to three of the fi ve super quarries in the UK that we own and this will allow high levels of volume to be processed into the industry to assist with meeting the demands. However, with this investment we must see a longer term commitment and strategic plan from the government to ensure that the expenditure on our facilities are fully realised.


Recycled materials


Despite the recent times of austerity experienced by the construction and highways sector, we have continued to invest in both product development and the upgrade of our existing assets. This means we remain at the forefront of the industry with regards to use of non-primary materials within our construction products.


In the last two years we have invested in two state-of-the-art asphalt plants at Sheffi eld and Heathrow which are capable to incorporating


“We will continue to challenge our business”


Andrew Bradshaw


increased amounts of recycled asphalt planings (RAP) and other non primary aggregates. Dependent upon material specifi cations, we are now able to incorporate up to 50 per cent RAP into our asphalt mixes, thus reducing our demand for natural resources.


Working with our clients, we are increasingly involved in the development of pavement designs that deliver the desired performance outcomes but reduce the pavement thickness, thus reducing the demand for specifi c materials. In particular our composite pavements team are currently working on a number of infrastructure schemes across the UK. Through our technical experts, we are delivering hybrid pavement solutions that not only reduce the volume of materials required but increase the percentage of recycled materials such as RAP, PFA, crushed concrete and glass.


We continue to utilise Foamix to provide cost effective sustainable solutions to our clients, particularly where we encounter coal tar materials within the existing highway. By undertaking such operations as we do with many of our local authority clients, we are able to reduce the cost of disposing of this hazardous material through recycling the pavement back into the new pavement.


Getting the price right


We will continue to work with our customers to fi nd the optimum


Demand for materials will continue to increase


solution through collaboration and early contractor involvement. We were awarded BS11000 (collaborative working) in February 2014 as a testament to how we work with our customers to deliver continued valued solutions.


We will continue to challenge our business, seeking ways to reduce waste from our processes but also challenging our clients to think differently about how we deliver works on site. With the expected demand on the industry over the coming years, we must collectively look at how we can optimise working windows to increase productivity for all parties. Presently, a large proportion of our highways operations are undertaken on highly restricted working windows meaning that we have non-productivity within our cost base. By continuing to implement LEAN working principles and with increased working windows and more evenly balanced works programmes, we believe that operational effi ciencies will be able to reduce the impact of price volatility.


We spend millions each year on tipper logistics and, with no infl uence on fuel prices, we continue to challenge how we reduce or off-set any increases in this cost. Following a review of our transport capability, we are introducing a leading system for vehicle scheduling. This will increase our haulier utilisation, enabling us to reduce non-productive travelling costs and reduce our CO2


emissions.


Furthermore, we have invested in new non-tipping trailer (NTT) vehicles. NTTs can carry 27 tonnes of aggregate or asphalt – 33 per cent more than a standard eight-wheeler. That’s one potential load saved for every four loads – on a 1,000 ton order that saves 13 loads, reducing haulage costs.


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