Foreword from Managing Directors

In 2023, Tarmac celebrated 120 years since our founder Edgar Hooley patented his road surface formula. In this anniversary year we made a number of significant strides forward to becoming a more sustainable business.

Our 2023 sustainability report focuses on the three central themes of our Act strategy – people, planet and solutions.

The people strand of Act refers to both people who work for us and the communities around our sites. In 2023 our Professional Operator Development Programme (PODP) for apprentices, delivered at the National Skills and Safety Park, was awarded an Outstanding rating by Ofsted. This followed its first full inspection, which was a massive achievement for the team at the Park. They were also recognised as national leaders in social mobility by the Purpose Coalition later in the year.

We’ve also continued work within our local communities. Whether charitable donations from one of our 350 sites, support from the Tarmac Landfill Communities Fund, or the 4,688 volunteering hours by Tarmac employees, we’ve tried to maintain our commitment to being a good neighbour. A new development in 2023 was a partnership between Mountsorrel Quarry in Leicestershire and local charity Love4Life, which provides support for young people aged 11 to 18.

The year also marked significant developments in our commitments to the planet. We launched our roadmap to net zero and formally signed up to our parent company CRH’s industry-leading commitment to reduce CO₂ emissions by 30% by 2030 (against a 2021 baseline).

In 2023 in line with these ambitions, we announced that we were part of major sustainability partnership projects, the biggest being the Peak Cluster. This carbon capture and storage project, a partnership between Progressive Energy and five cement and lime plants in the Peak District and Staffordshire Moorlands, aims to create a net zero future for the industry. The project will prevent over three million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year. We also announced our involvement in the groundbreaking Cement2Zero project, working with research and industry partners with an aim to develop the world’s first zero emission cement on an industrial scale.

In biodiversity news, the Tarmac-restored Panshanger Park in Hertfordshire was named a dragonfly hotspot by the British Dragonfly Society. A rare beetle was also discovered at the park for the first time in the county.

We also made progress on our commitment to offering sustainable solutions to our customers. In the year that we held our Next Gen 2030+ event, we launched our industry-leading CEVO low carbon concrete brand, which includes a simplified system for customers to rate the carbon footprint of our concrete products and support them in making sustainable choices.