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June 2012
Soil suppliers bowled over with concrete company’s solution
A Shropshire precast concrete company has been called upon to ensure a supplier of cricket pitches to some of the most famous venues in the country came up with a ‘wicket’ storage solution.
Binder Loams Ltd appeared to be stumped when its concrete bays that store tonnes of high-quality top soil and loams – used to supply pitches at international grounds including Lords, Old Trafford, and the Oval – needed replacing at extremely short notice.
However, the firm, which also supplies soils, loams, and compost to the horticulture and gardening industries, has used 400 interlocking blocks manufactured by Telford-based Elite Precast Concrete to create a series of sturdy storage bays at its warehouse in Ongar, Essex.
“The existing freestanding concrete block walls at our storage facility had decayed over time and required replacing immediately,” Frank Marta, Director of Binder Loams, explained. “We considered a number of options, but none seemed to provide us with a workable solution. We looked into A-shaped and L-shaped concrete blocks, which in addition to proving a more expensive solution, would also have been ineffective because of the uneven nature of the flooring in our warehouse. We then looked at fitting a series of shutters inside the warehouse to help store our products, but this would have cost us twice as much, not to mention the amount of extra time and work that we would have needed to carry out to install such a system.”
Instead, Binder Loams Ltd used 400 ‘Lego’ interlocking precast concrete blocks to create a series of 2.7 metre-high rear, side and dividing walls throughout its warehouse.
Frank Marta commented: “Not only are the blocks particularly robust and able to safely store tonnes of our soils and loams, but they can tolerate the imperfections in the floor that they sit on without compromising on performance. And whereas with some of the other solutions we’d investigated, we’d be looking at lead-in, delivery, and installation times taking a number of weeks, with Elite we were able to get the blocks delivered within days. And because they were so easy to fit together using just a forklift truck, it eliminated the need for us to bring in external contractors at additional cost – we were well and truly bowled over with how professionally and simply everything went.”
“Having such sturdy storage facilities will provide great peace of mind for Frank and the team at Binder Loams Ltd,” Owen Batham, Sales and Marketing Director of Elite Precast Concrete, said. “Not only do they provide soils and loam to cricket facilities from the grassroots level, if you pardon the pun, right the way through to County Championship and Test Match grounds, but they are also a pivotal supplier to the horticulture, landscape gardening, and construction sectors. Using our ‘Lego’ blocks will ensure the company’s entire product range is safely stored and readily available to meet its clients’ demands.”
Founded in 2008 by a team with more than 40 years industry experience, Shropshire-based Elite Precast Concrete Limited is the UK market leader in manufacturing and supplying interlocking and ‘V’ interlocking precast concrete blocks. By adopting an innovative and forward-thinking approach, both in its production processes and sales and marketing strategy, the company’s precast concrete products are now used by a wide range of UK and international clients including local authorities, recycling businesses, and waste management firms, to build durable waste storage bays. The blocks are also heavily used in industries such as outdoor hospitality, transport, and construction, where they are utilised as kentledge – a form of temporary counterweight – to hold scaffolding, security fencing, and marquees in place.
