Hanson sell Portland operations
HANSON Aggregates have sold their natural stone quarries and masonry works on the Isle of Portland, in Dorset, to Cladding Consultants Ltd for an undisclosed sum.
The 34 sales and production staff employed on the island have been transferred to Cladding Consultants’ wholly owned subsidiary, Stone Firms Ltd, who will continue to produce and sell Portland block stone, finished masonry and crushed aggregates. The Portland quarries currently produce around 7,000m3 of high-quality limestone blocks every year.
Hanson’s Bath and Cotswold Stone operations in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, and their masonry works at Keynsham near Bristol, which were managed within the Bath & Portland Stone business, are not part of the sale and continue to trade as usual.
Patrick O’Shea, managing director of Hanson Aggregates, said: ‘The decision to sell the Portland business is in line with our strategy to focus exclusively on our mainstream products of aggregates, asphalt and concrete, and to build our market positions in these areas through acquisitions and capital investment.’
