Communities
Objective
Make a positive contribution to our local communities
Goals
Develop lasting relationships with local communities and other stakeholders
Engage and inspire the next generation of skilled employees
Create opportunities for communities to connect to nature
“We're delighted to be able to continue our partnership with the Peak District National Park Authority. The benefits of outdoor activity for physical and mental wellbeing have never been more in focus, following a year in which we have all had our lives restricted by the pandemic.”
Pete Butterworth, Stone and Powders Director at Tarmac’s Tunstead site
Tarmac seeks to be an integral part of local communities. We recognise we have an important role to play, not only as a local employer but also a key member of the local community in which we operate. The COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult for us to engage with local communities and although many of our activities were affected, we continued to engage closely with and support our communities. Tarmac is committed to providing a net positive contribution to our local communities.
Highlights
Building stronger community relations
Having strong community relations is key to our continued and successful operations. One way of achieving this is through our people volunteering to support local community groups and activities. This year Tarmac employees completed 2,160 volunteer hours. COVID-19 and government restrictions limited the amount of volunteering we were able to do this year, but we were still able to support some amazing projects.
Tarmac colleagues at Aberthaw cement plant in Wales donated over 70 bags of Blue Circle cement to the Amelia Trust Farm, a charity which helps disadvantaged young people gain skills, confidence and experience to help them move forward at a critical time in their lives.
Our successful volunteering partnership with the Peak District National Park Authority has been extended for another five years. Previous work we have helped with here has included repairing footpaths, replacing the bridge on the Pennine Way, drystone walling and the management of the ancient hay meadows. We are excited to be able to see more employees volunteer to restore and help the development of this renowned national park.
Tarmac, Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust also partnered to introduce a new five-year community engagement and volunteering programme at Panshanger Park which will open the historic landscape to the wider public.
Supporting education and development of young people
In 2021, Tarmac employees completed 252 hours of educational interactions, such as careers days and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM) events. Including a STEM day Tarmac hosted at our Barrasford Quarry site in Hexham, this was attended by almost 80 year eight students from two local schools. The students were involved in four sessions including careers, geology, technology and land management, with the day coming to a close with a planned quarry blast, all in the name of STEM.
Mountsorrel Quarry also helped Ashmount School in Loughborough realise its dream of creating a new sensory garden – by making a significant donation of materials towards the project. The new garden will allow the children to enjoy a wide variety of sensory experiences.
Solutions for the Planet
For the seventh year running, we continued our partnership with Solutions for the Planet, extending our mentoring to new schools around the country. Tarmac employees provided mentoring and support to students from schools across the country to turn their big ideas into creative business plans and live projects, generating real solutions to challenging sustainability issues. In addition, three colleagues represented Tarmac as Shortlisting Judges, four colleagues as regional final judges and our Sustainability Director, Dr Martyn Kenny, as the national final judge.
Tarmac Landfill Communities Fund
Tarmac also made donations of over £1 million to charities and community projects, directly, with in-kind contributions of materials and labour and through contributions from the Tarmac Landfill Communities Fund.
Grays Town Park in Grays, Thurrock, has been given a new lease of life with a grant from the Tarmac Landfill Communities Fund. The fund enabled the gardens to be overhauled and major landscaping work to be carried out on the east side of the park.
The community fund has also helped improve access for wheelchair users and people with pushchairs at the National Stone Centre in the Derbyshire Dales where 500m of pathway were resurfaced and additional signs added.
The community fund has also helped rebuild and renovate multiple community buildings this year to create spaces for the local community to enjoy.
Improving the local environment
Tarmac is committed to making a net positive contribution to biodiversity and leaving our sites in a better condition than when we acquired them. We aim to safeguard and enhance the natural habitat for plants and animals and have received high praise from judges at the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA), BIG Biodiversity Challenge Awards for our restoration work at Crown Farm Quarry.
Colleagues from Tarmac’s North West area senior leadership team volunteered with the Cheshire Wildlife Trust at Tarmac’s Crown Farm Quarry. Tarmac works in partnership with Cheshire Wildlife Trust at Crown Farm, with the Trust managing the restoration plan for the areas of the site where sand and gravel extraction has been completed.
In the second year of a ten-year partnership with Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, Tarmac supported the planting of another 1,800 trees in the Yorkshire Dales thanks to their ‘People and the Planet’ initiative, meaning so far, we have helped to plant 3,600 trees.
COVID-19
Our Tarmac contracting team in Walsall supplied COVID-19 vaccination volunteers with a new set of jackets when they spotted them working hard in challenging weather conditions. The employees included marshals and traffic volunteers guiding the busy traffic in the city centre each day, despite cold and wet weather conditions.
We also supported the National Memorial Arboretum with its plans to create a living memorial commemorating the lives lost during the pandemic. We entered a new 980-year lease agreement for 25 acres of land that will be developed into a place for people to reflect and remember loved ones. Tarmac also donated 300 tonnes of gravel to the memorial site for vital drainage work that will improve and enhance the experience of visitors to the arboretum.
Looking forward
We have now completed the first year of our new sustainability strategy and we will continue to build on existing community relationships and to create new ones to make a positive impact in the areas we operate. In 2022, we will complete more volunteering hours in line with our target as COVID-19 restrictions ease and we will provide more volunteer opportunities for employees across Tarmac, as well as ensuring our sites have active community engagement plans. We will also develop ongoing relationships and partnerships with environmental bodies to support our restoration and volunteering commitments.