Our business

Hanson UK is one of the largest suppliers of heavy building materials to the construction industry. We produce aggregates (crushed rock, sand and gravel), ready-mixed concrete, asphalt and cement-related materials. We are part of the HeidelbergCement Group, which has leading global positions in aggregates, cement, concrete and heavy building products.

Turnover for the UK business in 2014 was £1,269 million. Capital investment for the year totalled £22 million. Our principal markets are in England and Wales and the central belt of Scotland. We have no production operations in Northern Ireland.

In December 2014, HeidelbergCement announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement with the US private equity investor Lone Star Funds to sell its building products businesses in North America (excluding western Canada) and the UK. The transaction completed in March 2015. As a result, Hanson UK now operates 308 manufacturing sites and employs 3,480 people.

Our headquarters is in Maidenhead, Berkshire, and our shared service and IT centre is in Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire. The location of our production operations is determined by a number of factors, not least geology and planning constraints. Where practical, our sites are located close to core markets to reduce the costs and impact of transport. We operate a series of depots and wharves, supplied by road, rail and sea, to ensure the efficient transfer of aggregates and cement to areas of greatest demand and where local materials are not readily available.

Our business is managed in four divisions - aggregates, asphalt and contracting, concrete and cement. We also own the walling contractor Irvine Whitlock.

Hanson Aggregates produces and distributes crushed rock, sand and gravel from a network of over 70 quarries, depots and wharves. The division includes Hanson Bath Stone, which produces natural stone masonry, and Hanson Aggregates Marine, Europe's largest producer of marine-dredged sand and gravel which operates eight trailing suction hopper dredgers delivering to wharves in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and France..

Hanson Asphalt and Contracting brings together management of our asphalt production sites and a national road surfacing and infrastructure contracting business. It also includes the asphalt and quarrying business Midland Quarry Products.

Hanson Concrete is the UK’s largest supplier of ready-mixed concrete from a network of 178 static and mobile production plants.

Hanson Cement is a leading manufacturer of cement, both in bulk and in bags, and produces Regen (ground granulated blast furnace slag) – a cement replacement in ready-mixed and precast concrete. The division includes our packed products business, which produces a range of bagged cement, cementitious and aggregate products.

Production volumes 2014

Production volumes 2014 (million tonnes unless stated)
Aggregates	28.53
Asphalt	3.16
Ready-mixed concrete (million cubic metres)	3.76
The Competition and Market Authority’s market data order prevents us publishing our cement volumes.
Bagged cement and aggregates	1.14
Precast concrete and flooring	0.23
Bricks (million)	438
Blocks (million cubic metres)	1.14

Production operations 2014

Production operations 2014
Aggregates depots and wharves	15
Asphalt plants	30
Bagged products plants	11
Block paving plants	1
Brick works	9
Cement depots and wharves	6
Cement plants	3
Concrete/aircrete block plants	7
Regen plants	3
Marine dredgers	7
Precast concrete and flooring plants	2
Quarries – sand and gravel	27
Quarries – crushed rock	25
Ready-mixed concrete plants	178
Recycling/landfill sites	2
TOTAL	326