About Tarmac
Tarmac has more than 110 years' experience of operating in a safe, responsible and ethical manner, which allows us to continue developing as a successful, sustainable company. We set high standards in all areas of our business and are committed to behaving openly and honestly while respecting all our stakeholders' needs.
Our business - overview
Tarmac is a leading supplier of construction materials and services. Our materials are also used in food manufacturing, water treatment, steel production and making pharmaceuticals, as well as many other industrial and environmental applications.
Tarmac began life as the TarMacadam Syndicate, which was established in 1903 in Wolverhampton, UK. Since 2000, Tarmac’s group of companies has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Anglo American plc, a global leader in mining, with a group operating profit of $11.1 billion in 2011.
Today our business employs 5,302 people in the UK and 902 in the Middle East across 491 facilities. Our main businesses include Tarmac, Tarmac Building Products and Tarmac Middle East, as well as relevant joint ventures managed through these companies. Tarmac Middle East reports into the board of the Tarmac UK business. Tarmac’s business includes quarrying and aggregates operations, asphalt, ready mixed concrete, national contracting, and cement and lime businesses, while Tarmac Building Products comprises value-added products including concrete blocks, mortar, screed, landscaping products, industrial sands and packed aggregates. The Middle East business mainly provides quarrying, asphalt and contracting services.
Our products and services form part of everyday life. You find them in everything from houses and workplaces, schools and hospitals, to roads and bridges, flood defences, and environmental protection systems like water treatment and flue gas cleaning. Many other essential items we all use on a daily basis – including steel, paper, glass, drinking water, food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and toothpaste – are also manufactured using our materials.
Tarmac
Tarmac employs 4,485 people and is the UK’s largest quarrying business, with headquarters in Wolverhampton, West Midlands. Recognised for its high-quality aggregates like crushed rock and sand and gravel, asphalt, ready mixed concrete, cement and lime, the firm owns and operates the UK’s largest contracting and highways services company, Tarmac National Contracting, and also incorporates Tarmac Buxton Lime and Cement as well as Tarmac Marine Dredging. Tarmac is also one of the UK’s leading recycling companies, using over two million tonnes of waste in 2011 to provide recycled aggregates.
Tarmac owns and is responsible for the Tarmac brand, which covers all the products and services listed above, as well as the following product brands: Biocal, Calbux, CourtMaster, Fastpath, FoamMaster, Harden Red, Kalic, Limbase, Limbux, Masterdrive, Masterdrive Porous, Masterflex, Masterlayer, Masterpave, Masterphalt Courtmaster, Mastershield, Mastertint, Minimix, PathMaster, PlayMaster, RepairMaster, RoadMaster SMA, TarmacDry, Tarmac Low Carbon Concrete, Tarmac Tonic, Topflow, Topfoam, Topforce, TopProof, Toproc, Toptint, Toptrec, WhitePeak.
Tarmac provides aggregates, recycled aggregates, asphalt and ready mixed concrete through four UK regional businesses:
- North and Scotland
- Central
- West
- South East
The regional quarrying businesses also incorporate Tarmac Marine Dredging sites.
Tarmac operates two main business units outside its regional operations:
- Tarmac National Contracting – highways services, road maintenance, contracting and surfacing company
- Tarmac Buxton Lime and Cement – cement and high-purity lime products.
Tarmac Middle East
With headquarters in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, Tarmac Middle East reports into Tarmac’s UK business. Our Middle East business comprises aggregates, asphalt and contracting operations across Oman, Qatar Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Information and performance data from this part of the business is reported separately from the main Tarmac figures, and can be viewed via the link below.
Read more on Tarmac Middle East
Tarmac Building Products
Tarmac Building Products employs over 800 people and is a leading supplier of building materials to the UK construction industry. The company specialises in a variety of products including blocks, mortar, screeds, bagged aggregates, renders, grouts, plasters, special sands and specialist soils. As the only supplier to offer such a wide product range, it is the clear market leader in this field. The building products business has its UK headquarters in Tunstead, Derbyshire.
Brands include: Cempak, Durox, Hemelite, Holdfire, Hydrotite, Limelite (Plaster Products and Heritage Mortars and Grouts), Loksand, SafetyDeck, TermoDeck, Topcrete, Toplite, Topsport, Truflow, Trugrow, Trupak, Truscreed, Tufscreed and U-Can.
Tarmac international businesses
Tarmac has completed the divestment of all its international businesses, with the sale of its remaining operations in Romania and Turkey in late 2011. As a result, these businesses are not included within this report.
Joint Venture
At the time of writing, we are awaiting a ruling from the UK’s Competition Commission on a proposed joint venture between Tarmac and Lafarge UK. In 2011, our parent company, Anglo American plc, and Lafarge SA announced their intention to form a 50:50 joint venture company (JVCo)* to merge Tarmac’s UK aggregates, asphalt, ready-mixed concrete, cement and lime operations, with Lafarge’s UK cement, asphalt, concrete and aggregates operations. The Competition Commission ruling is expected by 1 May 2012. If approved, the JVCo would represent an exciting opportunity to develop a leading UK construction materials company, and would generate many benefits for customers.
*The proposed JV does not include Tarmac Middle East, any of the remaining Tarmac International businesses or Tarmac Building Products Limited. Neither does it include Lafarge’s UK Plasterboard operations.
