From its new regional base in Bury St Edmunds, GRS is looking to grow its supply of construction aggregates made from recovered waste materials to developers across East Anglia.
With a turnover of more than £500m, the Warwickshire-based firm has been among the UK’s fastest growing companies in The Sunday Times Top Track 250 four times in recent years, and GRS bosses are confident of a new wave of growth, particularly in Suffolk but also Cambridgeshire, Essex and Norfolk. The annual demand for aggregates in the East of England looks set to exceed 20 million tonnes in the years ahead.
The new office on Hollow Road in Bury St Edmunds will house the GRS major projects team alongside colleagues from the company’s aggregates and waste trading business. Also based there will be regional representatives of GRS subsidiaries including earthworks and civils contractors ISC, ground stabilisation specialists Soil Science and rail freight venture Rail Stone Solutions.
GRS chief executive Jon Fisher said: “There’s huge potential for growth across East Anglia – probably greater than any other part of the UK – and having a base in Bury St Edmunds gives us a platform to do business in this part of the world. The opening of our new office is just the start of a multimillion-pound plan to grow in this region. We plan to open a rail freight terminal near Ipswich, marine wharves in two locations on the East Coast, and a new facility for bagging materials to supply East Anglia’s builders’ merchants.”
Karim Massaad, Sizewell C supply chain business adviser for Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, said: “It’s great to see a business like GRS showing the confidence to invest in the east of England and be part of the supply chain supporting the many developments happening here. GRS has already provided thousands of tonnes of aggregates to Sizewell C and their new office in Bury St Edmunds will position them well for future growth across the east, especially given the scale of the opportunity on local construction projects, where UK-sourced sustainable aggregates will need to play a pivotal role.”
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