A UK building materials and construction company, owned by CRH, that supplies aggregates, asphalt, cement and concrete and builds and maintains roads, with 350 sites or more across the country.
Tarmac supplies the materials that roads, bridges, homes and offices are built from, and also does some of the building and maintenance. Its website describes it as a UK building materials and construction solutions business and a CRH company. The range includes aggregates (crushed rock, sand and gravel), asphalt, cement, ready-mixed concrete, packed products for smaller jobs, building products, recycling, road contracting and highway maintenance. It says it has contributed to projects such as HS2, Wembley Stadium, The Shard and Heathrow Terminal 5.
Tarmac's purpose, in the words on its site, is "Building our World", with a stated aim of more sustainable, lean and effective solutions and progress towards digitally enhanced, Net Zero construction. It stresses simplifying, connecting and optimising, along with whole-life thinking, health and safety, and inclusion. It claims about 150 years of heritage, combining Tarmac, known for pioneering the modern road surface, with Blue Circle, the cement maker. A 2020 sustainability report records it as a wholly owned subsidiary of CRH.
Tarmac's UK presence is large and spread across the country. The current About page says it employs around 7,000 people across more than 350 sites in the UK; a 2020 report gave about 8,400 people and more than 400 units, so the numbers have moved. The 2020 report places its head office in Solihull in the West Midlands. It manages over 60,000 acres of land, including more than 80 sites of high biodiversity value, such as the 400-hectare Panshangar Park in Hertfordshire. It operates quarries, cement works, asphalt plants and depots, so there are roles in almost every region.
On culture, the company says it has a "zero harm" safety culture, supported by its National Skills and Safety Park, a training site. It says almost 2,500 people benefited from learning over three years, and it describes a focus on personal development and inclusion. These are company claims and we have not independently checked them. A 2020 sustainability report also describes investment in its people.
A company with this range employs quarry and plant operators, drivers, road workers, engineers, surveyors, geologists and environmental specialists, estimators and project managers, and sales, digital, finance and human resources teams. Because it works on roads and infrastructure, it is a good example of how construction supports everyday life: the road to school, the runway at the airport and the foundations of the shopping centre all begin with materials like these.
Website: www.tarmac.com
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