Displaying items by tag: UK

UK: Mineral resources company Francis Flower has announced the acquisition of the Scunthorpe ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) plant from Hanson Cement.

The business is capable of producing more than 500,000t/yr of GGBS and supplies customers in the Midlands and north of England. GGBS complements Francis Flower's existing range of high quality powdered minerals, which originate as by-products from various industries. This reduces the need for mineral extraction and landfill, delivering sustainable environmental solutions for its customers. The acquisition reflects both Francis Flower's commitment to developing its range of products and services in this sector and the credibility it has for making the most of mineral resources.

"We are absolutely delighted and very excited to announce this new acquisition. GGBS is an excellent fit to our existing product range and will help further our longstanding relationships in this sector," said Adrian Willmott, Chairman and CEO of Francis Flower. "We have a proven track record of making the most of mineral resources, reducing the need for mineral extraction as well as landfill and delivering sustainable solutions for our customers. We are very much looking forward to working with the team in Scunthorpe and developing the opportunities in the GGBS market as the UK construction sector continues to grow."

UK: Aggregate Industries' new cement division will be led by Joe Hudson as managing director of cement and concrete products. He joins Aggregate Industries from Lafarge, where he has worked in a number of key functional and operational roles since 2001. Hudson was heavily involved in preparations for the LafargeHolcim merger as group senior vice president for organisation and development at Lafarge and has experience of running a cement business, having previously worked as managing director / CEO for Lafarge Wapco Plc in Nigeria.

UK: Leicestershire-based Aggregate Industries, now part of the LafargeHolcim group, has taken ownership of Lafarge cement plants in Cauldon, Staffordshire and Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

The transfer of ownership of the two plants, along with a quarry at Cauldon Low and a cement terminal at Belfast Docks, was finalised on 20 July 2015 and also involves the transfer of 250 employees from the existing operations to Aggregate Industries. Originally owned by Holcim, Aggregate Industries said that becoming a cement producer and supplier 'is the final piece in the jigsaw,' providing a full range of construction materials to its customers.

"These are exciting times for Aggregate Industries. Along with the wider benefits of being part of the new LafargeHolcim group, the integration of cement production represents a significant strategic opportunity for us. We're now able to offer our customers the full range of construction materials and solutions, while maintaining our high levels of customer service," said Pat Ward, Aggregate Industries CEO. The business will continue with the Lafarge cement brand for its bulk cement products, although some of the bagged products will be renamed in due course.

UK: As part of the preliminary steps to implement the disposals required by the European Commission for its approval of the merger to create LafargeHolcim, the group has completed the acquisition of the 50% share in Lafarge Tarmac held by Anglo American for Euro1.4bn.

This step is required to allow for the full divestment of Lafarge Tarmac, with the exception of the Cauldon and Cookstown plants and certain non-operational properties, to Ireland's CRH as part of the divestment of several assets in Europe, Canada, Brazil and the Philippines.

The divestments of these assets are expected to be completed at the end of July 2015, with the exception of the Philippines, which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2015.

UK: According to the Plymouth Herald, a major new six-silo cement depot is being planned in Corporation Wharf in Cattedown, Plymouth, Devon as part of a bid to bring its historic wharf back into use. It is part of a bid to transport the tens of thousands of tonnes of cement brought in and out of Plymouth every year by boat instead of road. The Victoria Group wants to build a new bulk cement storage and terminal at Corporation Wharf in Cattedown.

UK: According to the Daily Mail, a disused cement plant in Shoreham, West Sussex will be transformed into a Euro143m eco-friendly resort that will 'resemble the Shire from the Lord of the Rings.'

The disused Shoreham cement plant on the edge of the Sussex Downs near Shoreham is set to become one of the most environmentally-friendly holiday resorts in the UK. Plans for the 477,529m² site will see 600 eco-friendly holiday pods with glass roofs constructed. 1.5MW solar panels mean that the on-site vehicles will not consume any petrol.

The development has been drawn up by architects at ZEDfactory, which has claimed that the project could provide 500 jobs. "It's taken a colossal amount of work and will see a significant investment," said ZEDfactory director Bill Dunster. "It will be a very beautiful place. Instead of seeing vertical chalk cliffs that look rather like a moonscape, it will be entirely green, ivied, with trees. It will look stunning." As well as the amphitheatre and 600 holiday homes, the quarry will also house 50 'earth sheltered homes' built partially underground.

"Nestled in the heart of the South Downs National Park is one of the South East's largest brown field sites. The local residents as well as the Parks Authority want to see something truly exceptional happen there," said a project spokesman. "Working with the local parish and experienced architects, we have put together a community-led proposal to redevelop the cement plant into a world-leading eco attraction showcasing and housing green businesses as well as an earth sheltered holiday park, an outdoor concert amphitheatre, natural swimming lakes and much more." The scheme has the backing of the Low Carbon Trust and the plans will be lodged later in 2015.

The brownfield site is one of three major developments in the pipeline for the area of outstanding natural beauty, according to the South Downs National Park Authority. The authority said that no formal planning application has yet been submitted for the cement plant, but said that a great deal of thought would be given to any application.

"This is an important strategic site in a very sensitive location. It will be considered as part of the Local Plan for the National Park," said a park spokesman. "'No applications have yet been submitted and there's still much work to do to ensure that any proposals safeguard the South Downs' wildlife, landscapes and heritage and can actually be delivered. The site has the potential to make a substantial contribution towards sustainable growth, but also to accommodate innovative development, which promotes National Park purposes."

UK: Mid UK Recycling Limited plans to extend its Wilsford Heath waste management facility at Ancaster, South Kesteven in Lincolnshire. If its plans are approved, the plant would recycle up to 350,000t/yr of waste mattresses and plastics.

Chris Mountain, managing director, said that the investment could run into 'multiple millions' of Euros. "We are an existing business, we employ 350 people in Sleaford, Caythorpe and the Ancaster site," said Mountain. "We will put in the main planning proposal in the next three months and as soon as we get the green light we'll start straight away." He said that initially the company wants to start by the end of December 2015, although it may take three years to complete the expansion. "We have been four years developing the site next-door, which is full to capacity now," he said. "The range of products we produce is getting wider and wider. It makes no sense to export those jobs out of the county."

There would be a building for machinery that could break down mattresses into resalable parts. Leftovers would form solid recovered fuel (SRF) products, which could by cement plants and power stations. Another building would be created for packing and storing gypsum from recycled wallboard, which would be sold to supermarkets as cat litter. The business would also bring in a new way of recycling rigid plastics, breaking them down into granules to sell to Lincolnshire manufacturers of drainage pipes, water pipes and car parts.

CRH's ambitions took a setback this week when the Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) raided the offices of its subsidiary Irish Cement as part of an investigation into the bagged-cement industry in Ireland. Details are vague but the media reports state that the inquiry is examining whether or not the Irish market leader has abused its dominant position in the market, valued at Euro50m/yr.

Undoubtedly CRH and Irish Cement hold a leading place in the local cement industry. Irish Cement runs two integrated cement plants in the Republic with a combined production capacity of 2.7Mt/yr. This constitutes 79% of the country's 3.4t/yr total capacity.

Previous acquisition activity such as CRH's purchase of Dudman Group's UK import terminals in July 2013 has led to concerns regarding market competition. At that time Irish cement importer Eircem complained to the UK Competition Commission (CC), claiming that 'there is no free competition' in the market and also to initiate proceedings against CRH for damages relating to alleged anti-competitive behaviour in that market.

Roll the clock forward nearly two years and CRH is making the headlines once more for a much larger acquisition portfolio: the purchase of the largest chunk of assets sold from the merger of Lafarge and Hocim. With regards to Ireland and the UK, CRH will take on three (Dunbar, Tunstead and Aberthaw) of Lafarge Tarmac's five cement plants. Lafarge Tarmac's other two plants (Cookstown and Cauldon) will become part of the Aggregate Industries division of Lafarge Holcim. And once again, following acquisition activity competition, questions are looming as the CCPC raid suggests. This time though the potential impact of any market abuse, if it is actually happening, is far larger given the influx of UK and European assets that CRH are taking on.

We don't know what the CCPC will find but we can look at how CRH was viewed in the UK CC report on 'Aggregates, cement and ready-mix concrete market investigation' published in January 2014. At that time the CC concluded that, "We have seen nothing to suggest... that the recent acquisitions by CRH will result in importers collectively or individually offering a significantly greater constraint on cement producers than in the past." Amusingly though CRH also told the CC that it had no major expansion plants for the UK.

We also know how one of CRH's competitors felt about them. One of the more telling quotations from the CC report was from a Commercial Manager, at Lafarge Cement Ireland who viewed expansion in Ireland by Lafarge as a 'mechanism' to control CRH's ambitions by attacking it in its home market by showing CRH that Lafarge was a global player. Ironically the comments of that anonymous manager look very different now that CRH is on track to becoming a global player itself.

UK: Saxlund International has collaborated with Hope Construction Materials to install and commission a new waste-derived fuel solution for Hope Construction Materials' cement plant in Derbyshire, UK. The solution has been designed to provide storage, transportation, weighing and injection of solid waste fuel (SWF) to the two kilns. The goal is to increase the rate at which Hope can replace fossil fuels with waste-derived alternatives to more than 50%, a key part of its long-term sustainability targets.

The project incorporates a fuel reception and push-floor storage solution, reclaim conveyors, process tower with drum magnet and star screen, together with a weighing and pneumatic injection system to the main burners. The system facilitates stable and reliable process conditions to help minimise build-up in the pre-heater tower. It also offers a 'future-proof' solution with the flexibility to handle changing fuel characteristics and different types of waste-derived fuels, should suppliers change in the future.

"This is a flagship project for us. Once fully operational, the new solid waste fuel (SWF) system will run on a 24/7 basis delivering fuel at a rate of up to 5t/hr to each kiln," said Matt Drew, managing director Saxlund International. "It means that Hope Works will soon be operating with a significantly larger proportion of waste-derived fuels, in the process diverting up to 80,000t/yr of bulk solid waste from landfill and representing significant carbon savings to the business."

With the UK going to the polls on 7 May 2015 in a general election what does this all mean for the local cement industry? Some of the main issues for a buoyant cement industry are market demand, energy costs and government interference through issues like taxation or restrictions on international trading.

Probably the first big problem facing the UK cement industry would be construction market uncertainty following any prolonged post-electoral negotiations. At the time of writing the polls predict that neither of the main political parties will be able to form a legislative majority without the formation of some sort of coalition with a number of minority parties. This also has relevance for eventual policy, so more on this later. Additional political deadlock might also arise from the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), potentially the largest minority party, and their demands for further political devolution from the rest of the UK.

Following this, the main two political parties, the Conservatives and Labour, are fairly similar from their manifesto statements advocating deficit reduction, no major new taxes and a continuation of carbon emission targets. If either party gets in, general government should continue as before with major infrastructure projects carrying on as planned and an emphasis on the economy or public spending respectively.

Differences start to emerge with the Conservative Party, a centre-right group with a liberal economic agenda, promising a national referendum on continued membership of the European Union (EU) that could lead to Britain leaving the EU in a so-called Brexit. This could cause complications for businesses with strong European links such as the cement industry. However a 'Brexit' might not be all bad news for heavy energy users as they could potentially renegotiate their carbon emission targets.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party, a centre-left group, immediately takes a negative point since its current leader held a senior economic post in the Labour government in the build-up to the crash in 2008. Since that time three integrated cement plants in the UK have closed. Back to the current election, threats to reform the consumer energy markets might have knock-on effects for business consumers. However, traditionally the Labour Party encourages higher spending that might lead to more large-scale infrastructure projects like the much-maligned High Speed Two railway line from London to the north. These kinds of projects would need lots of cement.

If any of the other minority parties get to carry an influence in a coalition they may be able to influence certain policies as the price for their support. For example, a UKIP right-wing coalition would demand a EU referendum. A Green left-wing coalition would push for decarbonisation energy policies and/or anti-fracking measures. Both of these outcomes could have effects on cement production. The other issue that minority regional players in a coalition might have is concerning changes to cement plants in their part of the world. For example, threats to shut a cement plant in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland might then gain a higher profile to any administration that includes the SNP, the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland or Plaid Cymru in Wales.

In summary, it is easy to identify what the UK cement industry wants but far harder to determine what will happen after the election. Assuming there is a government that is! The country holds a mature cement industry with limited infrastructure opportunities. Barring real political change such as a Green surge it will be business as usual on 8 May 2015. Cement kilns will keep turning.