The Cemex cement plant at South Ferriby, UK has a new director, 29-year-old Philip Baynes-Clarke.

He succeeds John Whyatt, who has been in charge of the plant since 2002.

Mr Baynes-Clarke (pictured) joined the company in 2001 as a graduate chemical engineer.

Since then he has risen through the company ranks, with responsibilities in different areas of the cement business, before becoming plant director at the company’s Barrington cement plant in Cambridgeshire in 2007.

At Barrington, which recently stopped making cement, Mr Baynes-Clarke was credited for a number of major performance-related achievements, an excellent health and safety record, and improving the environmental performance at the plant by increasing the use of alternative fuels from 30 per cent to 60 per cent, thereby reducing the carbon footprint and the nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 50 per cent.

Mr Baynes-Clarke said: "I am excited about the challenges of this new role at a plant which is more than twice the size of Barrington. My focus will be to continue the alternative fuels programme that has already been firmly established in South Ferriby, whilst identifying and implementing process efficiencies in all areas of the operations."