The acquisition is designed to reinforce Aggregate Industries' position in the construction and demolition materials (CDM) market in the UK and supports the company’s growth strategy in this area.
Aggregate Industries’ acquisition of Land Recovery comes less than a year after it took over OCL Regeneration, a Kent-based supplier of highways waste recycling services, to boost parent company Holcim’s eco credentials. [See previous report here.]
Given the generally poor name that cement producers have in the climate crisis, Holcim’s great rival Heidelberg has also been making acquisitions to build up its materials recycling credentials, including Mick George and B&A Group already this year.
Land Recovery was founded in 1982 by the Beecroft family. It supplies primary rail ballast and also handles spent ballast, recycling a proportion of it into new products either for the rail network or to create products such as readymix, precast concrete and asphalt.
It employs 85 people plus 18 contractors across four sites. Its main UK operations base is in Stoke-on-Trent, where it conducts the majority of its business. It also has a rail yard site in Dewsbury in West Yorkshire along with quayside sites at Lowestoft in East Anglia and Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. It turned over £50m in 2021, reducing to £40m in 2022.
Aggregate Industries chief executive Dragan Maksimovic said: “This acquisition further strengthens our position in the CDM market and, in line with other recent investments, reinforces our ambition to be the UK circularity market leader by 2030. There is very clear alignment between Land Recovery’s growth ambitions and our vision to increase the amount of CDM we process and recycle every year. Its strategic site locations in the country also allows us to introduce circular products to new regions utilising shipping and rail transport networks.”
Land Recovery managing director Dan Beecroft said: “We’re really looking forward to taking the business forward with Aggregate Industries. This allows us to continue our ambitious growth plans and to develop our offering. It is really beneficial to be part of a leading UK and global company which has a clear vision for circularity and to be able to have access to their networks and expertise.”
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
