Overview
Castle Cement is the UK cement arm of HeidelbergCement Group and meets about a quarter of the demand for cement in Great Britain. It has developed over the last two decades into a major force in the UK cement industry. Castle Cement has belonged to HeidelbergCement Group since 1998.
| United Kingdom |
| Cement plants |
3 |
| Cement terminals |
2 |
(Data as of 1 July 2006)
The market
Castle Cement has manufacturing plants at Ketton in Rutland, Ribblesdale in Lancashire and Padeswood in Flintshire, north Wales. The company also operates its UK production through marine terminals at Avonmouth, near Bristol and Goole on the River Humber.
In Britain, almost half the market for cement is used in the production of ready-mixed concrete, with a further quarter of the demand being used in concrete products. In contrast to the European continent, the British cement market remains predominantly a CEM I market, with bulk ready-mixed concrete and prefabricated concrete producers preferring to mix additions such as slag, ash and limestone at the concrete plant.
Castle Cement has substantially reduced its use of non-renewable raw materials and fossil fuels over recent years. Energy has been recovered from various kinds of alternative fuels such as scrap tires, paper and plastic waste, biomass fuel etc.