The boss of the UK's second largest quarry group underlines the importance of the county to the company. Business Editor Ian Griffin spoke to him
The first thing Pat Ward did when he became chief executive of Aggregate Industries in April was to re-establish its head office in Leicestershire. His predecessor Alain Bourguignon had switched his base from the quarry giant's traditional Bardon home to London during his time as chief executive.
Mr Ward, who has been at Aggregate for 20 years, took the job after 15 years running Aggregate businesses in the US following Bourguignon's promotion within the group.
Speaking at the group's grade II-listed head office Bardon Hall, between Copt Oak and its Bardon Hill quarry, he said: "Alain was primarily based in London. I made the decision because of the history of the company and the importance of Bardon to the rest of the group. I go to London when I need to, but I'm mainly based either here (Bardon Hall) or Bardon Hill (the quarry office).
"I could have been based in London. But the heartbeat of the company is in Leicestershire and Bardon is the core of the business.
"Because I've had a history with the company for 20 years, the head office was always going to be here.
"I come from a quarrying background, I understand the importance of it. Our executives have generally been here. It makes sense to me."
The importance of Bardon to the group, the second biggest quarry business in the UK, cannot be under-estimated.
The 150-year-old quarry – one of 50 operated by the group across the UK and northern Europe – is set to expand as part of a multi-million pound investment which will see stone extracted from the site for at least another 40 years.
"Bardon is the cornerstone of our business in the UK," said Mr Ward, a 54-year-old Glaswegian.
"This is underpinned by the fact that we have just invested an awful lot of money in an extension of Bardon quarry."
The expansion will see a new quarry created close to the existing one, which is due to cease operations around 2019. About 3.5 million tonnes of stone will be extracted from the site each year, which is likely to help fuel the booming economy of London and the south-east.
During the construction of the infrastructure for the 2012 London Olympics, about 2,500 tonnes of the aggregate was transported from Bardon quarry to London by rail each week, with the rest coming from a quarry in the West Country.
Aggregates, which employs 3,700 people, including about 700 in Leicestershire, has also won other prestigious contracts in recent years, including supplying material to construct The Shard in central London.
Mr Ward said the group had benefited from both the general economic upturn and a new initiative around working more closely with customers.
He said: "Alain was promoted within the group. The group wanted someone from a strong background in the industry. Obviously, I've had 20 years in the group and I have a strong focus on customers.
"If you are at the stage where the market is recovering and you want to make sure that you deliver value to your customers as a company.
"I've spent a lot of time since the move with key customers and stakeholders trying to understand how easy or difficult we are to do business with.
"I made a conscious decision I wanted an input from outside the company rather than just an internal viewpoint."
He said Aggregates' history of supplying big projects and its strong logistics network puts it in a great position to benefit from the £15 billion Government road spending programme announced earlier this month.
Mr Ward said 2014 had been a good year, but was unwilling to provide a turnover figure.
The latest available accounts for the group show it made a turnover of £1.077 billion in 2013, compared to £1.025 billion in 2012. Earnings rose from £40.2 million to £96.4 million over the period.
Mr Ward said: "2014 has been a good year for Aggregate Industries in the UK.
"We are obviously benefiting from some positive indicators in the market and the economy.
"The success that has come hasn't just been market driven through a series of initiatives which has helped develop the business. If you take what the Government is talking about and you take into account all the initiatives we are involved in, we expect 2015 to see continued improvement over 2014."
However, Aggregates is also looking further into the future following concerns about skills shortages in the quarry sector.
The UK group's commitment to training has impressed Mr Ward.
He said: "One of the things I like about Aggregate Industries is when I came back in April I was impressed about how much was invested in apprenticeships and trainee managers. I heard about how the son of someone who works here was doing an apprenticeship.
"It says it all about the company because I know companies that don't want relatives working together. I'm happy we have them."
Aggregates' Swiss-based owner is interested in working more closely with French-based rival Lafarge, which owns Lafarge-Tarmac in the UK.
The merger would create the world's largest cement maker. Mr Ward said he was unable to comment on the likely impact on Aggregate in the UK.
He prefers to focus on his day-to-day job of developing good working relationships with customers, suppliers and regulators. Despite working in Denver, Colorado and Texas for many years, Mr Ward says he found no difference between working there and in the UK – except for the weather and the scenery.
"It isn't as different culturally as you would have anticipated," he said.
"The regulatory side has not been as dramatic as I thought it might be. The weather has been different, of course, although I've been told it's been milder this year."
Mr Ward likes to relax by going on long walks with his two dogs in and around his Market Bosworth home.
"There's a lot of things I miss about the US, but when you look at the countryside around here, it's just brilliant," he said.
