Lloyds Bank has backed the expansion of a construction materials supplier in Northamptonshire, enabling the company to acquire its first quarry.
Storefield Group, in Kettering, recently acquired Earls Barton Spinney Quarry, a 50-acre site outside Northampton.
The aggregate supplier also invested in a new wash plant with the support of the £1.6 million funding package from Lloyds.
The investment comes amid a period of expansion for the Group, which has grown its vehicle fleet by 10 per cent and upgraded to bigger lorries to reduce vehicle trips.
In the last 12 months, the business has grown from two main operating sites to four, with planning permission secured for a former steelworks site to be regenerated into a new recycling facility, commencing development next year.
The Group is targeting £20 million in turnover by the end of 2024, after recording turnover of £12 million last year.
Storefield supports the construction of around 3,000 homes each year, via small- to mid-sized homebuilders. This is alongside major projects for infrastructure and utilities companies.
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London is one of the aggregate supplier’s biggest contracts.
The new wash plant at Earls Barton Spinney excavates, grades and separates aggregates, before washing them for construction purposes. The water used in the process is filtered into an on-site lagoon and is re-filtered into the plant to optimise water usage.
Storefield also recycles materials recovered from live building projects so they can be reused, avoiding over-use of quarries.
“Earls Barton Spinney is our first ever quarry and represents a huge milestone in Storefield’s journey,” said Emily Wright, project manager at Storefield Group. “It means that we now have an end-to-end offering, digging up the materials, suppling them to our customers, and clearing excavated waste from their projects to be recycled and re-used for new projects. And the new wash plant means that we’re doing this far more efficiently and sustainably.”
Sustainability
Wright added: “We know how important recycling and sustainability is becoming to our customers, who are mostly small businesses just starting to make a change. Being able to manage the waste from their projects and ensure it’s put back to use, rather than into landfill, gives them the foundations on which they can go on to make an even bigger impact for the environment.”
Stephen Woolridge, relationship director at Lloyds Bank, said: “Regeneration and infrastructure projects, as well as homebuilding, carry significant weight in driving economic recovery and we’re proud to back a local business helping support that.
“Storefield is a good example of a business that’s spotted a gap in the market and is moving to meet a growth in demand. This is exactly where we’re able to be by other businesses’ side, offering the financial solutions that will allow firms to capitalise on new opportunities and drive growth.”
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