Owen Pugh expand laboratory operations with £100k investment

North East civil engineers Owen Pugh has invested in its laboratory facilities; expanding its in-house materials testing capabilities to support the company’s growing contracting and construction divisions.

The Owen Pugh Group has invested over £100k to move and extend its on-site materials testing laboratory at the Marsden Quarry site and to purchase new equipment in development areas for the business - eliminating the need for the facility to subcontract these aspects of work.

The investment comprises the relocation of Owen Pugh’s materials testing facility into 1000 sq ft of lab space. The expanded scope of work now includes aggregate testing with frost-heave, abrasion and soundness tests.

Other new aspects of the laboratory portfolio are concrete sampling, on-site testing, curing and cube crushing. In addition, automated soil density and bearing strength test equipment is now available in the lab facility.

In line with the investment, the five-strong lab team is set to increase to seven over the coming month to help manage the increased workload, and an additional three employees are expected to be in post by the end of the year.

The laboratory, which forms part of the group’s Owen Pugh Aggregates business, now provides a broad range of laboratory based and in-situ testing, operating to UKAS accredited procedures and test methods to ensure materials comply with relevant specifications for construction and civil engineering use.

The move to expand the business, whose primary focus up until now has been the testing of its own limestone and recycled aggregates, coincides with the expansion of Owen Pugh GDC which relocated into a new depot in Gateshead in January to accommodate its growth.

The newly extended testing facility will support the GDC operation, as well as the company’s construction arm, by testing materials to be used in a range of projects recently including access roads within Lynemouth Power Station, A19 widening at Moor Farm, Durham Trinity School and the specialist emergency care hospital development in Cramlington.

The work undertaken to expand Owen Pugh’s testing capability has been facilitated by lab manager Richard Brady who joined the business in September last year.

Since taking up the post he has been involved in all aspects of the relocation, including appointing trainee lab technicians Alex Davison and David Henny, ensuring the facility is equipped for the next stage of growth.

Mr Brady commented: “The expansion of our lab facilities to accommodate the extra need for materials testing within the GDC and construction divisions was a natural next step for the business.

“Although we are a fledgling operation in the Owen Pugh Group, we expect the investment to reap rewards in the next year with future developments already being planned.”

In addition to the expansion of Owen Pugh’s lab facilities the Marsden Quarry offices have also relocated on site as part of the investment to enable further extraction of quarried materials and modernisation of the office facilities.

John Dickson, chairman of the Owen Pugh Group, said: “We have invested significantly across the Owen Pugh business in recent months to enable us to fulfil our long-term growth plans including acquiring a new factory to support our GDC arm.

“The expansion at our laboratory and the addition of new materials testing capabilities will ensure that we are able to provide a full in-house service to our clients and it will mean that we’re well-positioned to market these services to external businesses.”

The Owen Pugh Group comprises five trading companies operating in the civil engineering industry, undertaking earthmoving and demolition, drainage and groundworks, plant-hire and haulage, quarrying, inert waste and drain cleaning, and CCTV surveys.

The group is headquartered in Dudley near Cramlington, with other bases in Blaydon, Sunderland and Stockton-on-Tees, as well as Marsden Quarry. The company employs over 360 staff across its business.