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Tue March 19 2024

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Hope opens its first new quarry

7 Oct 14 Hope Construction Materials has opened its first new greenfield quarry.

Hope Chairman Amit Bhatia opens Black Cat Quarry, alongside (left to right) quarry manager Simon Bryant, Sean Hoare, managing director of ECL Civil Engineering and ECL senior buyer Lee Babb. ECL is the quarry’s first customer.
Hope Chairman Amit Bhatia opens Black Cat Quarry, alongside (left to right) quarry manager Simon Bryant, Sean Hoare, managing director of ECL Civil Engineering and ECL senior buyer Lee Babb. ECL is the quarry’s first customer.

Black Cat Quarry is next to the A1 Black Cat roundabout near Roxton in Bedfordshire. It will supply Hope’s numerous readymix concrete plants in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, as well as sand and gravel into the regional market. It is expected to supply more than 100,000 tonnes of sand and gravel each year.

Hope is the Indian-owned business that emerged last year in the wake of the merger of Lafarge and Tarmac in the UK. The Competition Commission ordered certain assets to be sold; they were bought by Mittal Investments, the private investment vehicle of the Mittal family, which made its fortune in the Indian steel business.

Black Cat Quarry represents a £1.5m investment by Hope, including a state-of-the-art sand and gravel processing plant.

Regional director Clive Rillstone said: “At just 18 months old Hope Construction Materials is still a young company and we are delighted to have reached this significant landmark. Black Cat is the company’s first new quarry development, securing our aggregates supply in the vital Home Counties market for the next few years. It helps us to remain competitive in the supply of local concrete and represents a significant step forward for the business.

“As with any project we work on, Hope has a strong commitment to the restoration of all areas once operations are completed. We have worked closely with local authorities and organisations and taken steps to ensure we are a good neighbour.”

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