Asphalt investment

Hanson’s asphalt division has kicked off a multi-million pound investment programme to reduce energy consumption, increase the use of recycled products and improve the reliability of its plants. The move to replace and upgrade plant, machinery and systems is being made in anticipation of a significant upturn in government and local authority spending on highway maintenance.

A four year business and investment plan has been drawn up focusing on improved control systems, technology to reduce energy consumption, and modifications to ensure all our plants are capable of using recycled asphalt planings (RAP) in new asphalt mixes.

Last year a major replant was carried out on the Marini plant at Whatley quarry in Somerset, a mobile plant was purchased and a RAP-enabling project was completed at Runcorn on Merseyside. We also replaced a number of bitumen tanks with new, energy efficient units that provide increased storage capacity.

The action intensifies in 2017 with new plants planned for Appleford near Didcot in Oxfordshire, Allington near Maidstone in Kent and Penmaenmawr in north Wales along with smaller investment projects focused on sustainability and customer service excellence.