About us

Tunstead Cement Plant

Meet the team
Employee focus
Health and Safety
About Tarmac

Welcome to Tunstead

Since the site at Tunstead was established in the 1920s, it has supplied aggregates, cement and lime for a wide range of uses around the UK.
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Meet the team

There are around 400 employees working at Tunstead, many living local to the site. At the head of each operation is a highly qualified and skilled management team.
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Alejandro Soria
Plant Manager
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Josie Shereston
Enviromental Coordinator

There are around 400 employees working at Tunstead, many living local to the site. At the head of each operation is a highly qualified and skilled management team.

Employee focus

Name
Matt O'Nyons

Job title
Packing Plant Maintenance Engineer

When the brand-new cement packing plant opened in May 2016, Matt O’Nyons was right in the thick of it! Matt’s role as Packing Plant Maintenance Engineer is another vitally important one for Tarmac’s Tunstead operation. He is part of the team who are tasked with making sure our builders’ merchants and DIY stores never run out of Tarmac’s packed cement products.

Matt began his Tarmac career in 2008 through an electrical apprenticeship which started in our quarry. Once he successfully completed his apprenticeship, he was taken on in a full-time role in the Stone Section. From there he moved on to the Packing Plant in January 2016, in the build up to its official opening in June 2016.

Working with his team of three, Matt says his role involves doing “anything and everything” to keep the plant running efficiently. He works closely with the German manufacturers of the packing machine – Haver and Boecker; looks after the annual budget for electrical and mechanical work; manages his team’s welfare, safety and work planning, scheduling & executing; on top of planning & supervising the annual routine shutdown activities. With a 24/7 operation and five shift teams, Matt has his work cut out, coordinating maintenance work and ensuring our customers are kept happy.

“With thousands of moving parts and spare parts controlled by various energy sources, the Packing Plant is home to some complicated pieces of machinery,” says Matt who lives in Peak Dale and whose Dad and brother and uncle also work at Tunstead.

“As well as packing four different products here equating to 12 million bags annually, we also import packed products from our specialist site at Barnstone in Nottinghamshire, ready for onward distribution. So, we actually distribute every one of our packed products from this site, keeping customers satisfied right around the UK.”

Matt says he now really enjoys using his experience to solve operational challenges more quickly; and passing his knowledge on to the team. Outside of work, Matt is a keep fit enthusiast with activities including mountain biking and boxing training.

Employee focus

Name
Josie Shereston

Job title
Environmental Coordinator and STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths) Ambassador

Good environmental management is at the heart of all the operations at Tunstead. The site has achieved the internationally recognised environmental standard (ISO 14001) which demonstrates our commitment to continually look for ways to improve our performance.

Here we put the spotlight on Josie Shereston who acts as the first point of contact for regulators regarding cement plant information and ensures the plant complies with its permits, company objectives and community requirements.

"I started with Tarmac in 2003. My role involves ensuring Tunstead Cement Plant complies with the many standards and permits that govern its operation. I ensure that the Plant’s Environmental Management System (EMS) is kept current and up to date, and I assess all environmental aspects to ensure controls are in place to minimise any adverse impacts on the environment.

I am also responsible for ensuring Tunstead Plant has a good relationship with the local community. I especially enjoy visiting schools and talking to students about careers in our industry.

I am a trained Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) Ambassador – this enables me to go out to give talks and meet young people with a view to promoting these subjects as good routes into successful careers, including in the construction materials industry."

 

About Tarmac

Tarmac, a CRH company, is the UK's leading sustainable building materials and construction solutions business.

Tarmac combines the knowledge and expertise of two of the construction industry’s most iconic brands: Tarmac, the pioneers of the modern road and Blue Circle, the company that patented Portland Cement.

Our innovative products and solutions not only safely deliver the infrastructure needed to grow the UK economy today but also help to create a more sustainable built environment for the country’s long-term future. We have contributed to some of the UK’s biggest construction projects, including The Sainsbury Laboratory, Wembley Stadium, Heathrow Terminal 5, Blackpool Sea Defences, The Shard and London 2012.

The company has over 150 years of experience and directly employs around 5,500 people across a nationwide network of over 350 sites. Our solutions span aggregates, asphalt, cement, readymix concrete, road contracting services, building products and recycling services. This unique combination of people, technology and assets enables us to offer customers unrivalled choice, innovation and flexibility.

About CRH

CRH (NYSE: CRH, LSE: CRH) is the leading provider of building materials solutions that build, connect and improve our world. Employing c.78,500 people at c.3,390 operating locations in 29 countries, CRH has market leadership positions in both North America and Europe. As the essential partner for road and critical utility infrastructure, commercial building projects and outdoor living solutions, CRH’s unique offering of materials, products and value-added services helps to deliver a more resilient and sustainable built environment. The company is ranked among sector leaders by Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating agencies. A Fortune 500 company, CRH’s shares are listed on the NYSE and LSE.

For more information, visit: www.crh.com

Health and safety

Protecting the safety, health and wellbeing of our employees, contractors and those around us is a core value of our business. We work in potentially hazardous environments so it’s important that everyone understands how to go about their jobs safely.

We believe that every task should be done safely and through measurement and learning, we can continuously improve our performance. Everyone working at Tunstead is expected to work in a safe, responsible manner and to challenge unsafe behaviour.

We give everyone on site a thorough safety induction so they know our behavioural expectations and how to stay safe. We are very careful to separate out traffic and pedestrian movements, and we undertake risk assessments before each activity so that we know the risks involved and can prepare for them.

We measure our safety record by recording everything from a Near Miss (Unsafe Act or Condition), First Aid Treatment, Medical Injury, and incidents that mean someone has to take time off work, known as a Lost Time Injury (LTI), so we can learn and avoid them altogether in the future. We proudly display the number of days since an LTI and to remind everyone of the need to remain safe.

On site, everyone outside the office buildings must wear Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).c

We also have a brand new National Skills and Safety Park - 'The Park' - that is home to operational onboarding, professional operational training, assessments and health and safety learning, demonstrating our commitment to building the right safety culture as well as creating an enhanced experience for employees.

Trade body

The Mineral Products Association (MPA) is the trade association for the aggregates, asphalt, cement, concrete, lime, mortar and silica sand industries. The British Lime Association is part of the MPA and there is extensive health and safety information for the mineral products industries on the Safe Quarry hub site.

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