A construction materials group, headquartered in Leicestershire, that supplies aggregates, cement, asphalt and concrete from around 300 locations in Great Britain and Ireland.
Breedon supplies the materials that go into roads, buildings and homes. Its range includes aggregates (crushed rock, sand and gravel), asphalt, ready-mixed concrete, cement, bitumen, bricks, tiles, Welsh slate and specialist concrete and clay products, together with contracting services such as surfacing and highway maintenance. Wikipedia says it operates about 300 locations and had 4,900 employees in 2026. An industry magazine profile adds that Hope Cement is the UK's only independent cement producer and importer.
The company's roots lie in quarrying at Breedon on the Hill in Leicestershire, which Wikipedia traces back to the late 1800s. The modern group was created in 2010 when Peter Tom and Simon Vivian bought the Midlands aggregates firm Ennstone through Marwyn Materials, forming Breedon Aggregates, and has grown by buying other businesses, including Hope Construction Materials in 2016 and a package of Cemex's UK assets in 2020. Pat Ward, a Scot with over 30 years in aggregates and construction, became group chief executive in January 2016. The company moved to the London Stock Exchange main market in May 2023. We did not find a written mission statement, so we have not invented one.
Breedon's headquarters is in Breedon on the Hill, Leicestershire. A 2016 magazine feature lists key sites such as Cloud Hill Quarry and Dowlow Quarry in Derbyshire, a cement distribution depot at Dagenham in Essex, the Sherburn Minerals Group in Durham, and a large asphalt supply contract for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route in Scotland. The company also operates across Wales, and it names Great Britain and Ireland as its markets. That article is dated, so check Breedon's site for a current list.
On culture, the company says it values ethical business, strong leadership, and a commitment to excellence and hard work, and it describes its approach on a graduate-recruitment profile as one that encourages employees to take initiative, challenge the status quo and bring their own skills. In return, it says it offers training, development support, mentoring and recognition, and tries to promote existing staff into new roles. Its chief executive described it in 2016 as "a really entrepreneurial organisation", and said it is essentially a regional player with local relationships. These are company claims.
The same profile lists operatives, skilled trades, geologists, quarry managers, engineers, and finance, human resources and business development staff. Because Breedon is built around many regional quarries and plants, a career can mean working close to home in a local team. If you like geology, engineering, machinery or the outdoors, a quarry-based company is one of the more hands-on places to see construction materials at the very start of the process.
Website: www.breedongroup.com
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