Hope Construction Materials, the UK’s newest cement and concrete supplier, today celebrates its first anniversary having opened for business in January 2013 following the purchase of over 150 former Tarmac and Lafarge sites across England, Scotland and Wales.

The independent company owns the UK’s biggest cement plant in Hope Debyshire with up to 1.5Mta of capacity. In its first year of operation, the company sold 1.3Mt of cement while concrete sales amounted to 2Mm3.  Today it operates from 180 nationwide depots from the South Coast to the Scottish Highlands and from West Wales to East Anglia.

Chairman Amit Bhatia said Hope had become a major player in the industry turning over GBP300m in 2013 and employing 800-staff.  Pleased with the company’s progress so far, Mr Bhatia added that the company would soon launch a “new way of working” to improve customer service. “When we entered the market a year ago we had our sights set on challenging the accepted norms in this industry. Now we’re making changes to improve service and we will continue to make this a valuable point of difference for our customers.”

Hope Construction Materials CEO, Chris Plant, added: “We are thrilled to be celebrating a successful first year in business. 2013 was a challenging and exhilarating year, but ultimately one in which we made incredible progress.”