Page 55 - HUB-4 Magazine Issue 83

Quarrying News
Whilst much of the businesses’ success has tied to the groundworks aspect of the company, a chance meeting in 2018 whilst looking for a yard to base his tipper fleet from saw Rob agree to buy a small recycling facility on the edge of the Pen-Y-Fan Country Park. “We had originally run the trucks from the family farm but as things started growing, we wanted to find a more suitable location to base the tippers and the growing fleet of machines that we had.” Rob explains. “We looked at a few locations and didn’t really find anything suitable until this site came up. The owner was looking to retire and whilst we weren’t on the lookout for a recycling company, the added flexibility the planning permission gave us made the deal very inviting.”
Moving their operations up to Blackwood has seen Rob and his team not only expand their business offerings but also take a huge step into becoming a supplier of high-quality materials for both their own operations and outside entities. “Our groundworks operations require large volumes of aggregates, and these were either sourced as virgin materials from quarries or as recycled material from a variety of producers in South Wales. We were finding that virgin material prices could fluctuate wildly whilst the quality of the recycled material was quite often below our expectations and often contained contaminants from the demolition and recycling processes. Having purchased the recycling yard, we were then able to offer a better product for our customers.”
Rob’s desire and drive to produce a better material has seen the company invest heavily in a state-of-the-art wash plant to handle over 5000 tonnes of material per week and with that, open up a new market for the company in high-quality recycled aggregates. “We wanted to put ourselves in the position between your virgin material and standard recycled material.” Rob explains. “We wanted a clean and quality material and whilst it has taken a while to dial the system in, we are very happy with the results.”
Having the operation allows Rob’s tippers to leave the yard in the morning with a load of stone or sand, tip at one of his projects and return to the yard with a load of material to be recycled. This not only minimises empty running, but also ensures deliveries are made on time and are correct. Once the inert material is tipped at the yard it is screened, crushed and washed to produce perfectly graded and clean products.
Whilst the production of the materials is one thing, having the ability to handle, sort and load the product is key to keeping the trucks flowing through the yard. Replacing a similar sized machine, Rob turned again to Molson and Salesman Luke Mercer to add a new 16 tonne, Hyundai HL955A as the material processing area’s machine.
www.hub-4.com Nov/Dec- Issue 83
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