Supplying aggregates for civil engineering projects

Key clients

J Devine Civil Engineering

With the tagline “Our Reputation is Our Business” and over 35 years’ experience in the industry, the company specialises in the construction of roads, sewers and civil engineering groundworks. They pride themselves on working to the highest standards of safety, quality, sustainability to ensure the environment is protected.

Reilly Civil Engineering

Specialising in complex major projects, John Reilly have provided a wide range of services to a range of clients in both the public and private sectors. Contracts generally include the construction of roads and sewers for private housing developments, all groundworks, shell and core construction, harbours and sea defences, demolition, land remediation, sewage treatment plants, bridges and waste management solutions.

Blanchard Wells Structures and Civils

A Hampshire-based civil engineering company, Blanchard Wells leads from the front to deliver outstanding groundworks projects in the commercial, industrial, retail, residential, public and transport sectors. Dynamic and forward thinking, yet down to earth and professional, Blanchard Wells build confidence and trust from their service excellence and safety initiatives.

Les Searle Civil Engineering

One of the largest privately owned specialist earthworks contractors in Southern England, the Les Searle Group have operated from the same family home and premises in Horsham, Sussex for over 100 years. A highly respected business, they’ve grown through ambition, hard work and an excellent reputation, qualities that have remained.

The requirement

Our key clients are those listed above, civil engineering firms working along the A27 / M27 corridor. These companies are involved in large residential developments requiring extensive infrastructure development, estate roads, drainage and so on. These projects require large volumes of imported fills, the most common materials being those derived from the recovery of demolition waste(s), concrete, hardcore and asphalt.

One such project was the creation of social housing at the old Kingston Prison site in Portsmouth. Blanchard Wells were contracted to undertake the groundworks and called upon TJ to provide them with bulk recycled fills for this. We supplied thousands of tonnes over a number of months as and when it was required. The project is ongoing so we will continue to provide materials throughout this phase of the project and into the future phases as well.

The challenges

During periods of high demand, supply can become an issue, with many contractors desperate to place large orders for bulk recycled fill materials, only to find there is a lack of supply in the local area.

2020 has been a huge challenge and signs indicate that these challenges will continue into 2021 where demand is expected to continue in much the same way. Recycled fill aggregates are becoming harder to source, which has led TJ to research product development opportunities and continuing to procure more hard, raw material.

The solution

TJ Transport is meeting this supply shortage challenge by developing a wider offering to the existing range. Raw materials are sourced from our own waste transfer stations combined with various local infrastructure utilities and demolition contracts to generate higher volumes of finished graded products. Alongside this, TJ has begun engaging with clients about the use of Rock Chalk from Butser Quarry within their projects as it is often effectively used as a deep fill engineering material. Rock Chalk is strong and plentiful, which makes it ideally suited for deep fill on these types of projects.

The Commercial and Operations team at TJ is working on plans to increase supply of blended recycled and secondary engineering fill materials going into 2021. This will help manage costs for their key clients because these materials will cost significantly less than primary aggregates.

Primary materials such as limestone are more expensive, not only to purchase, but also because of the transportation costs involved. The nearest limestone quarries are in the Mendips area and it is costly to move the materials from there to Hampshire. Clients bid for jobs with the aim of remaining competitive and winning the contracts, but if they end up having to purchase primary aggregates, they’ll be unable to meet their tender rates and risk not making a profit.

It is hoped that the increased supply of new and blended materials will be available and easily accessible throughout Hampshire and West Sussex early in the new year.

The outcome

Our aim is to ensure our clients are happy with the service provided and that we are able to keep up with demand, hence our plans to ensure we can stimulate supply going into 2021. After the uncertainties of 2020 and much publicised economic downturn, we’re pleased that we were able to maintain all of our operating assets and locations throughout this difficult time. End of year sales demonstrate the hard work everyone associated with the company has contributed, from full time employees to subcontractors.

The new materials that we’re developing require desktop studies combined with sourcing, physical processing, sampling and testing to ensure they meet our clients’ specifications. We hope to release more information regarding the development of new and additional secondary and recycled aggregates soon, but please get in touch if you would like to discuss in further detail.

Read about TJ’s involvement in two aggregate supply projects – one for a retail development and the other for a training centre. For further information about aggregate supply, please contact Commercial Director, Steve Grant or Commercial and Operations Manager, Paul Smith on 08000 463 964.