Our history
Tarmac was established in 1903 and was acquired by Anglo American in 2000. Primarily known for its supply of a range of building and aggregate products into the construction industry
To find out how the company was formed and some interesting highlights from our history, read below.
It was the start of a new century. The Boer War raged, Queen Victoria's long rein had just ended and the civilised world was starting to feel the effects of the new age of the motor car. The search was on for a material that would create better road surfaces. . .
As if by chance, on a road near Denby ironworks in Derbyshire in 1901, the county surveyor of Nottingham - Edgar Purnell Hooley noticed a barrel of tar had fallen from a dray and burst open.
To avoid a nuisance, someone from the ironworks had thoughtfully covered the sticky black mess with waste slag from nearby furnaces. . . and the world's first tarmacadam surface was born by accident!
Hooley noticed that the patch of road, which had been unintentionally re-surfaced, was dust-free and hadn't been rutted by traffic. So he set to work and by the following year, 1902, Hooley obtained a British patent for a method of mixing slag with tar, naming the material Tarmac.
By June 1903, Hooley formed the TarMacadam Syndicate Limited, the origin of what is now known as The Tarmac Group, the UK's leading supplier of building materials.
Fact file:
- The TarMacadam Syndicate was formed on 17 June 1903 with a nominal capital of 25,000
- The name of company changed to Tarmac Ltd on 26 May 1905 and Sir Alfred Hickman, MP for Wolverhampton, became chairman
- In 1925 - 1926 the road fund report showed that 190 miles of arterial roads had been completed including the Kingston by pass - the first dual carriageway of its kind
- In 1930 machines were gradually being introduced into quarries, replacing jobs that were previously done by hand. Excavators were used to load stone into steam trains
- The method of delivering tarmac changed from railways to roads and in 1935 the company switched from the classic but cumbersome Sentinel Steam Wagons to lighter motor lorries
- When the tide of World War II turned Tarmac was asked to complete a special rush job, widening and strengthening miles of roads in the south of England ready to carry D-Days invasion traffic to the coast
- In 1956 Tarmac won a most significant contract to surface the eight mile long Preston Bypass, which later became the M6 Motorway - the first motorway to be built in Britain
- In 1964 The 7 T's symbol of Tarmac was introduced and ten years later was voted one the world's top trade marks
- Tarmac built the Thames barrier in conjunction with Costain and Hollandsche Beton Maatschappij. It was opened by the Queen in 1984.
