Burlington Stone has unveiled major investments in solar power and computer aided production at its Kirkby Quarry headquarters as part of multi-million-pound programme of development at the Holker Group-owned business.
The roofs on the quarry’s production sheds have been covered with 890 solar panels which are predicted to generate 275,000 kWh of electricity a year, which is nearly one third of the site’s annual consumption.
The £250,000 investment, covering 1,300 square metres of roofing, is expected to reduce the quarry’s carbon emissions by 38.6 tonnes year – equivalent to the annual carbon absorption of around 1,800 trees – as part of Holker Group’s strategy to significantly reduce its emissions across all its businesses over the next two decades.
Around 70 per cent of the electricity generated will be used on site, with 30 per cent sold back to the National Grid when supply exceeds demand.
Burlington Stone Managing Director Richard Page said: “We are proud of our long history of sustainability – in both the quality and longevity of our products, and in ensuring waste is minimised. From the Lake District’s historic ‘diminishing course’ roofs that make use of every size of roofing slate, to our newly integrated stone and aggregates operations, we aim to sell every tonne that we extract.
“This major solar investment at Kirkby Quarry is a big step in our innovative journey to significantly reducing our carbon emissions. Within days of the first electricity being produced we have been able to measure and share live data with our teams of the impact it is already having on our carbon footprint.”
Meanwhile Burlington has also invested £300,000 in modern, computer-controlled ‘CNC’ machinery for cutting and polishing its high-quality architectural stone products, which are seen in statement projects across the world.
The new machines will enhance the skills of the firm’s stone workers and allow efficient production of larger and more complex, bespoke shapes for its architectural products, says Richard Page.
“We are using CNCs in ways that fit with Burlington’s values. We will never come away from the high levels of craftsmanship and hand-finished quality of our products that we are renowned for.
“It’s not to replace the craft element, it’s to supplement what we do. The CNCs will enable us to carry out some more complex, for example, radial cut patterns. Rather than templating and manually cutting out, being able to automate part of that process makes a lot of sense for us, without compromising quality.
“While we are proud to be involved in high-quality statement projects around the world, of equal importance are the beautiful roofing and walling products which are essential to maintaining and conserving the wonderful Lakeland vernacular,” says Richard.
Danny Judd, Burlington Engineering and Operational Improvements Manager, oversaw the solar project with Holker Group’s Chief Operating Officer Stuart Sims.
“It’s been a big learning process, finding out how solar works,” said Danny. “The biggest thing is the journey of reducing our carbon footprint and becoming a more responsible and sustainable business. That’s the most important for me. We’re moving closer to producing carbon-neutral stone and slate products.”
The solar system generates a peak power output of 300kW and supplies live data to the team via an app.
“You can see how much you’re generating, how much you’re using at that time, and how much you’re exporting back to the grid,” said Danny. “It will also show us how much we’re reducing our carbon footprint by and there’s a lot more information to be gained as we use the system more.
“The next question is how we could expand in the future – if we were to increase our hours of production for example we could then look into solar battery packs so we’re harvesting sustainable solar power even when it’s dark.”
The solar energy and computerised production installations were showcased on a visit to Kirkby Quarry by Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Chief Executive Jo Lappin. Cumbria LEP provided a £20,000 grant towards the projects as part of its Innovating for Success programme.
The visit was hosted by Holker Group Director Lucy McLaren, Lord Hugh and Lady Cavendish, the group’s Chief Executive Officer Allen Gibb, Chief Operating Officer Stuart Sims, and Burlington Managing Director Richard Page. Also present were Ryan Park and Mark Reed-Brough from Carlisle-based solar suppliers Go Low Carbon, who saw the new solar energy supply being switched on for the first time.
Jo Lappin also visited the quarry area, where £5 million has been invested in its redevelopment, securing the future reserves of the business for decades to come.
She said: “It was excellent to see the investments that had been made by Burlington Stone to both decarbonise their operations and to invest in new CNC machinery to further grow the business.
“The pace of implementation was really impressive, and I was pleased that Cumbria LEP could play a small part by providing £20,000 of grant funding through our Innovating for Success programme.”
The announcement of the Kirkby Quarry investments follow the acquisition by Burlington Stone last month [August] of the remaining part of its 50% stake in Barrow-based Burlington Aggregates to form Burlington Construction Materials Group.
The acquisition of the rest of the business from Neil Price Construction Services will double the size of the business to form one of the largest independently owned construction materials groups in the North West, employing around 110 people, and with a turnover of around £15 million.
Richard Page said the move would enable Burlington to further improve the services provided to its customers, enhance its ability to develop new products and secure jobs across South Cumbria.
“These are exciting times for Burlington. The new business will bring together the high quality, well established roofing and architectural business of Burlington Stone with the experienced decorative and construction aggregates and ready-mix concrete team at Burlington Aggregates.”
The business that became Burlington Stone was founded in 1843 by Lucy McLaren’s great-great-great grandfather the second Earl of Burlington.
It is part of the Holker Group, based at the Cavendish family home of Holker Hall, which employs around 300 people across its numerous businesses and the 17,000-acre Holker Estate. It opens Holker Hall to the public, and operates Cartmel Racecourse, two luxury holiday parks in South Lakeland, a significant portfolio of residential housing, Holbeck Homes residential developers, a 900 acre in-hand arable farm and 12,000 acres of tenanted farm land.
