Tarmac Building Products, a division of Lafarge Tarmac, has revitalised its Bolton-based block manufacturing plant with a six-figure investment, to help meet growing demand from the local building industry.
With house building continuing to be an increasingly hot topic in the early stages of the new government, the upgraded plant has dramatically stepped up its manufacturing of a range of lightweight and dense aggregate building blocks, with all materials sustainably sourced from local suppliers.
The Bolton plant, located in Little Lever, was originally opened in the 1940s with a view to supporting the region’s post-war construction industry. It has seen many changes over its history, including the construction of a specialist blocks plant in 1989.
Over the last 12 months the site has renewed over 6,000 of its steel pallets, which are used in the formation of the blocks and their transportation through the process. The company has also purchased two new moulds to help produce consistently uniform blocks for its Topcrete Standard and Hemelite Lightweight product lines, which are available in a variety of formats and are suitable for both above and below-ground walls.
Behind the scenes, targeted maintenance has also enabled the plant to improve its reliability, resulting in a 35% increase in production output.
Peter Eastham, Site Manager at Tarmac Building Products’ Bolton blocks plant, comments: “Our Bolton site has been an integral part of the local building community since the 1940s. Over the last few years the plant’s ageing infrastructure has hampered our production capabilities, yet thanks to the recent investment we are now enjoying our most efficient period of block manufacturing to date.
“We have also ensured our blocks range is manufactured from high quality, raw material which has been sustainably sourced from within the region. We hope this will not only show our reciprocal support for the local building industry, but will also keep the plant’s carbon footprint to an absolute minimum.”
Product information on the Topcrete and Hemelite range of aggregate blocks can be found at: www.tarmacbuildingproducts.co.uk.
