Tarmac Group

Tarmac logo in use from 1964 to 1996

A Sentinel steam lorry in Tarmac livery (Sentinels were used extensively in the 1920s)[3]

Original Tarmac Head office and depot in Ettingshall

Hilton Hall: Tarmac Head Office from 1986 to 1999

The company was originally formed by Edgar Purnell Hooley as the Tar Macadam (Purnell Hooley's Patent) Syndicate Limited in 1903.[4] The distinguishing feature of the new process was that it "tarred" cheap blast furnace slag, a steelworks by-product, rather than expensive roadstone and the company entered into long term contracts with steelworks to ensure its supply.[5]

The business was secured in 1905 by Sir Alfred Hickman, who became its first chairman.[4] The company remained under the effective control of members of the Hickman and Martin family until 1979. There were Hickmans as chairmen until 1959; more significantly, Cecil Martin, the son in law of Victor Hickman, was appointed a director in 1923 and managing director two years later.[6] Cecil's son Robin followed him in turn, serving first as managing director and then chairman and chief executive from 1971 to 1979.[7]

Tarmac was first listed on the Birmingham Stock Exchange in 1913 and then the London Stock Exchange in 1922.[8] During the 1920s and ‘30s Tarmac had to cope with national strikes, recession and periods of intense competition. Nevertheless, the company gradually expanded its geographic coverage (particularly in the south east), increased its production of paving slabs and moved into road surfacing as well as supply.[9]

As with so many companies in the construction industry, the Second World War increased the demand for Tarmac’s services, notably for surfacing the large numbers of airfields being built or modernised. By the time of its half centenary in 1953, Tarmac was processing over two million tons of slag a year, its road surfacing had developed into a significant civil engineering business, and its Vinculum subsidiary "had become one of the major precast concrete undertakings in the country."[10]

Under Robin Martin's leadership, Tarmac moved from being an important regional force to a national roadstone and contracting business. Acquisitions played a major role in Tarmac's growth. While leading the roadstone division, Martin had been responsible in 1959 for the acquisition of local competitor Tarslag and Crow Catchpole, which gave it a greater presence in the south east.[11] In 1964, now group managing director, Martin acquired key quarrying assets, including Cliffe Hill Granite, Rowley Regis Granite and Hillhead Hughes.[12]

In 1968, Martin engineered the three way merger between Tarmac, Derbyshire Stone and the Scottish Asphalt company, William Briggs, creating the country's "largest roadstone and construction group".[13] The group was briefly known as Tarmac Derby but the Derby name was later dropped.[14]

Further acquisitions were to come. Permanite, Britain's biggest roofing felt manufacturer, and Limmer, a quoted asphalt company, were bought in 1971,[15] while the 1973 purchase of Mitchell Construction (which had foundered on the Kariba Dam) strengthened the construction division.[16] However, the acquisition which was to radically change the direction of Tarmac was McLean Homes bought at the beginning of 1974.[17]

McLean was run by Eric Pountain,[18] a one time estate agent who had sold his own housebuilding business to McLean, later taking over as managing director in a boardroom coup. McLean had been bought to strengthen Tarmac's own poorly performing housebuilding division and the enlarged operation, now run by Pountain, was producing around 2,000 houses a year.[19]

Pountain had ambitions to become a national housebuilder, and by the end of the 1970s, McLean was building 4,000 houses a year and a substantial contributor to group profits. However, there were problems elsewhere in the group. In 1976, Tarmac had bought the old established contracting firm of Holland, Hannen & Cubitts; this was followed by contract provisions of £16m in its Nigerian subsidiary.[20]

The head of the contracting division was dismissed and the finance director resigned. The boardroom pressure on Martin increased, and in 1979, he was forced out to be replaced by Eric Pountain as the new group managing director. Whereas Martin had created a national roadstone group, Pountain was to create the country's largest housebuilder.[19]

By the end of the 1980s, British housebuilding was accounting for half of group profits but it was not the only activity to have been expanded.[19] An alternative profits centre had been built up in the United States, starting in 1984, with the staged acquisition of Lone Star Industries; by the end of the decade Tarmac was operating across seven states in the United States. Construction in the United Kingdom had also grown and Tarmac was involved in such prestige projects as the Thames Barrier and the Channel Tunnel.[21]

However, the expansionary nature of the group did not leave it well placed to face the recession of the early 1990s. In particular, the housing division continued to invest heavily in land even though the market had peaked, leading to provisions of £132m in that division alone. Like his predecessor before him, Pountain was forced to step down as chief executive to be replaced by Neville Simms, previously in charge of construction. Inevitably, the emphasis moved away from housing in favour of construction.[19]

In October 1992, Tarmac acquired the privatised government agency PSA Projects to complement Tarmac Construction.[22] This was initially called TBV Consult (reflecting a short lived partnership between Tarmac and Black & Veatch) and was renamed TPS in 1998.[23] Tarmac Professional Services also included a scientific and materials testing consultancy (Stanger), a facilities management company, specialist architects firms, and IT businesses.[24]

Housebuilding was progressively reduced in size until 1995, when Tarmac announced that the division would be sold. Later that year, Tarmac and Wimpey announced an asset swap whereby Wimpey acquired all of Tarmac's housing, and in return, Tarmac received Wimpey's construction and minerals divisions.[25] The downsizing continued, and in July 1999, Tarmac demerged its construction and professional services businesses under the name Carillion.[26]

Months later, Tarmac, now back to its roots as a roadstone and road surfacing business, accepted a bid from Anglo American Mining.[19][27] In August 2007, Anglo American announced it was to sell the business[28] but in February 2008, it went on to report that it was putting the sale on hold.[29] In June 2008, Tarmac Iberia was sold to Holcim.[30]

In February 2010, Anglo American sold Tarmac's European concrete aggregates business to Eurovia; it also sold its Polish concrete products business to the private equity firm Innova Capital.[31] A few months later, the French concrete products business was sold to the private equity firm Foundations Capital.[32] In February 2011, Anglo-American announced a proposed joint venture with Lafarge that involved combining both companies' aggregates businesses in the United Kingdom. The merger, which excluded Tarmac Building Products, was completed in March 2013, following receipt of necessary approvals from the UK Competition Commission, forming Lafarge Tarmac.[33] Tarmac Building Products, the last part of the business still wholly owned by Anglo-American, was acquired by Lafarge Tarmac in April 2014.[34]

Tarmac Building Products was the largest supplier in the United Kingdom of heavy building products. It supplied aircrete blocks, aggregate blocks, bagged aggregates, mortar, screeds, sports surfaces, TermoDeck, foundry sands, grouts, plasters, renders, bagged cement and bagged lime. It also offers bespoke production and contract manufacturing.

Tarmac Middle East was one of the largest and leading suppliers of aggregates and asphalt to the Middle East construction industry. It had interests in Primary Aggregate & Road Base Materials, Armour stone, Wet mix and Asphalt Products and Asphalt & Road Base contracting services.

Lafarge Tarmac was a 50:50 joint venture between Lafarge and Anglo American. It was the leading construction materials company in the United Kingdom, comprising cement, aggregates, ready mixed concrete, asphalt and contracting businesses in the United Kingdom.