Fact File

Fact File

Tuesday, 02, Dec 2008 01:09


Some key statistics about quarrying:

  • There are over 1,300 quarries in Britain supported by a fleet of 25 marine aggregate dredgers. Together, they produce some 210 million tonnes of aggregates a year

  • The balance of our needs comes from recycled and secondary aggregates. Annual sales have grown to around 67 million tonnes a year

  • Of the 281 million tonnes of aggregates produced in the UK in 2004, 76 per cent was from land and marine primary sources and 24 per cent recycled and secondary

  • The industry provides employment for an estimated 88,000 people - 38,000 directly and 50,000 indirectly

  • We consume some 4.8 tonnes of aggregates per head in Britain, which is substantially less than the European average of 6.9 tonnes

  • A typical house requires 60 tonnes of aggregate

  • Latest figures show around 14,300 hectares of land being quarried, 434 hectares prepared for quarrying and over 860 hectares restored in a typical year

  • The area of the seabed licensed for marine aggregate dredging in 2005 totalled 1,179km2 - 0.136 per cent of the UK seabed. Of this, only 11.7 per cent was actually dredged

  • QPA members plant over 195,000 trees and nearly 20,000 metres of hedgerow in a typical year

  • More than 700 of the UK’s Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) have their origins in quarrying

  • Latest figures show 120 archaeological investigations underway at QPA member sites

  • Around 36 million tonnes of aggregates a year are now moved by non-road modes

  • The aggregates and quarry products industry emitted 9.98kg of carbon per tonne of total production in 2004 - 0.6 per cent of the UK’s total

  • Aggregates and quarry products are key contributors to the £100 billion pa value of construction output which is 7 per cent of the economy.

    • Latest Press Releases

    QPA: Sustainable development update

    The QPA has published its fourth Sustainable Development Report, providing data up to 2007.

    QPA: Smashing success for hand axes at archaeology awards

    Prehistoric hand axes discovered in sand and gravel dredged from the North Sea by Hanson Aggregates Marine, have won the Best Archaeological Discovery Award at the prestigious British Archaeology Awards – described as the ‘Oscars’ of the archaeological world.

    Quarry Products Association welcomes planning reforms

    Quarry Products Association Scotland (QPA Scotland), the principal trade body for the aggregates and quarry products sector, has welcomed the announcement by Scottish Government to implement a wide-ranging package of improvements to make Scotland’s planning system leaner and fitter.

    QPA: Sharp decline of concrete and aggregates volumes in third quarter confirms depth of construction recession

    Sales volume of aggregates and ready mixed concrete declined very sharply in the third quarter of 2008.