Leicestershire-based Aggregate Industries has won a place on a billion pound national contract to maintain surfaces on the country’s motorways and A roads.
National Highways, the Government company which maintains and operates England’s strategic road network, announced its selected suppliers for the £1.3 billion Pavement Delivery Framework (PDF), with Aggregate Industries one of the 12 successful companies.
Aggregate Industries won a place to deliver the contract, which covers the supply of materials, plant and labour to carry out National Highways’ road surfacing (“pavement”) and construction works for National Highways’ Operations Division, in both the North and South “super” regions for the next five years.
The new agreements, which run from April 2023 to March 2028, promote the use of low-carbon materials. As part of this focus, National Highways has designated warm mix asphalt (WMA) as the contract’s default material of choice.
Aggregate Industries made the switch to WMA as standard earlier this year. Mixing at temperatures 20°- 40°C lower than hot mix asphalt (HMA) it allows for a significant reduction in CO2 emissions by using less fossil fuels and resources during the manufacturing process. It is also more durable and quicker to lay, meaning roads can be reopened to traffic faster.
Thomas Edgcumbe, Managing Director for Aggregate Industries’ Surfacing Solutions, welcomed the news. He said: “We’re extremely proud to successfully secure a place on this vital framework serving the south and north of the country.
“We have the knowledge, experience and expertise of working on big strategic infrastructure projects and look forward to delivering on this over the next five years.
“It is also really important that we will be able to continue our long standing partnership with National Highways focusing on carbon reduction, social value and efficiency.
“Sustainability is a central pillar of our own business strategy and we have been leading the way on innovating and bringing new low-carbon asphalt products to market. We use warm mix asphalt as standard and have introduced products including SuperLow Carbon and Foamix® this year.”
Duncan Smith, executive director of Operations at National Highways, said: “We are very happy to have secured these new agreements. Engaging an increased range of organisations from across the industry is a hugely positive step for us, allowing us to expand our supply chain and improve our resilience.
“We’re also happy to be working with some organisations that we haven’t worked with previously, and we look forward to building these new relationships. These contracts will also support our Net Zero Carbon Plan, which underpins all of our work now and in future years.”
