Press Announcement

Future of Bucbricks secured with Aggregate Industries

Aggregate Industries has purchased the family owned specialist sand business, Bucbricks’, based at Ardleigh, near Colchester in Essex, strengthening its offer to the specialist sand market.

Bucbricks is run by Managing Director Lynda Thompson – Chairman of the Quarry Products Association (QPA), former President of the Silica and Moulding Sands Association (SAMSA), and one of the most successful business women in the traditionally tough construction materials sector.

Lynda shares ownership of Bucbricks with members of her family and initially started working in the business alongside her father from 1988, becoming Managing Director in 1992. She became the first female Chairman of one of the largest construction trade associations, the QPA, in March 2005 and under her leadership saw it voted best trade association by the CBI in the 2006 Trade Association Forum Awards. Lynda will assist Aggregate Industries in a consultancy role to support the development of Martells Quarry and the company’s other Essex businesses, and in addition will contribute with  identifying strategy and determining the direction of a number of Aggregate Industries’ other businesses.

Keith Thompson, Operations Manager, will remain with the company, managing operations at the Bucbricks quarry as well as helping at Aggregate Industries’ nearby Ardleigh quarry. All of the Bucbricks’ employees involved in the sand quarrying part of the business will be retained by Aggregate Industries.

Bucbricks currently produces more than 20 grades of sand for supply to customers across the UK and overseas, and will strengthen and complement Aggregate Industries’ existing specialist sand business, Garside Sands, based at Leighton Buzzard, extending its geographical coverage to the East of England and boosting sand and gravel reserves for the booming South East region.

Speaking about the acquisition, Lynda said: “Bucbricks has developed its silica sand business over a long period of time and I am sure that Aggregate Industries will take the opportunity to expand that business whilst securing its long term future and that of the employees for many years to come, both of which are very dear to me”.

Bucbricks’ specialist sand products are well-known to sports venues such as Wentworth golf course, and are used in sporting environments ranging from football and cricket pitches to dressage rings and other amenities. The company’s specialist industrial sands also have a special rounded grain shape, suiting them perfectly for important and sometimes life-saving applications, such as water filtration. Bucbricks’ customers range from the UK Water Authorities and water companies in Portugal, Qatar, Bahrain, Russia and the Falkland Islands to the British Armed Forces. The Royal Engineers, NATO’s only specialist well-drilling unit use Bucbricks’ sands to provide filters for newly sunk bore holes to abstract water in military areas and the company’s graded dried sands are also exported to the third world to ensure essential clean drinking water.

Group Chief Executive of Aggregate Industries, Bill Bolsover, said: ‘Bucbricks will dovetail perfectly with our Garside Sands business and I am very pleased that this company, which I have admired for some time, is now part of Aggregate Industries. I am especially delighted that Lynda has agreed to stay on as consultant and that she has also agreed to take on an important role in determining the future direction of a number of our other businesses.

I have known Lynda as a personal friend for many years and greatly admire what she has achieved both at Bucbricks and for the industry as a whole. She has never been afraid to speak out on the range of issues affecting our sector and her vision and business experience will be invaluable not only to our enlarged specialist sands business but also to our other aggregate operations. I look forward to the success that the combined strength and knowledge of the two businesses will bring.”

Colin Parke, General Manager of Garside Sands, will oversee operations at both Bucbricks and Garside Sands to maximize the synergies between the two businesses, using Garside Sands’ sales structure to provide nationwide sales coverage for products from both businesses. The enlarged business will allow Aggregate Industries to extend its offer to its national and international customer base, while also increasing the company’s sand and gravel reserves in the Essex area.

Bucbricks operates to stringent environmental standards in keeping with Aggregate Industries’ own environmental policy and won a Gold Award from Essex County Council in 2006, reflecting the company’s high standard of operation and commitment to minimising environmental impact.
Ends

Notes for the Editor:
Bucbricks is a family owned business, which since 1948 has operated a silica sand quarry in Ardleigh, near Colchester, Essex. The sand quarried by Bucbricks in Ardleigh is recognised for it high silica purity and well-rounded texture. Bucbricks supplies to more than 400 customers in the UK and overseas including the Arab Gulf States, mainly for water filtration, but also for a wide range of sports and amenity uses.

Part of Aggregate Industries’ Bardon Aggregates business, Garside Sands produces specialist graded silica sands and serves diverse markets including sports, water filtration and industrial applications. www.garside-sands.com.

Aggregate Industries is involved in the quarrying, manufacture and distribution of primary, recycled and secondary aggregates, asphalt, ready-mixed concrete, cement and precast concrete products, for use in construction across a wide range of sectors including civil engineering, sports and leisure, building and industrial and commercial applications. Aggregate Industries also offers a nationwide surfacing and civil engineering contracting service, with extensive experience in Term Maintenance and Framework Contract working. www.aggregate.com.