Breedon Group’s (Breedon) Hope Cement Works is located near the village of Hope in Derbyshire, England. It is recognised as the UK’s largest cement plant and is integral to Breedon’s cement manufacturing capabilities.
To sustain the processing of quarried limestone required for cement manufacturing, Breedon recently executed a major project to replace its 1940s Fuller Traylor primary gyratory crusher with a new 1,250tph primary gyratory crusher supplied by FLSmidth. Quarry Manufacturing and Supplies Ltd (QMS) was the lead partner in the installation, and the overall project was managed by the Projects Team at Hope alongside a team of trusted contract partners.
Hope’s cement manufacturing process starts in its quarries, which are comprised of two limestone sources: high-silica and low-silica. Due to their high chert content, the quarry’s upper beds have more of the high-silica limestone. Further down in the quarry, the lower-silica limestone is located. There are currently 13 operational benches in the limestone quarry. In addition to the limestone material, shale is used from an adjacent quarry on site; the limestone and shale quarrying operations are integral to the cement manufacturing plant.
More than half the cement made at Hope Works is transported in bulk via rail to depots in the Southeast (Dagenham and Theale), West Midlands (Walsall), and North of England (Dewsbury), ensuring the final product is delivered as sustainably as possible. Additionally, Breedon has import terminals to supply its customers in Northern England (Blyth and Runcorn) and Scotland (Leith).
Breedon installed a new gyratory primary crusher to sustain operations in September 2024. The site had operated and maintained the previous Fuller Traylor crusher since its installation in 1952, and the body of the machine has remained completely original. Due to advancements in primary crusher technology and a desire by the business to improve the crusher’s maintainability, plans for replacing the original crusher were put in place in 2022.
The project involved installing a new primary crusher and associated equipment on the limestone-crushing line. The limestone crushing line further consists of a twin-line secondary and tertiary crushing stage, comprising state-of-the-art QMS B6 cone crushers. QMS was given the task of pre-assembling the new FLSmidth crusher, demolishing and removing the old Traylor crusher, and finally installing the new FLSmidth crusher. They worked in close partnership with the Breedon team at Hope, their contract partners, and equipment supplier FLSmidth.
George Close, UK sales director at QMS, said: “Working closely with FLSmidth, we had first to build up the new gyratory crusher. This was a time-consuming and exacting process, as we were working to tight deadlines, and the crusher had to be assembled on site. This site assembly was the first time all the crusher parts had been together, as FLSmidth delivered the components from all over the world. This took approximately five weeks. The second stage was to remove the old primary Traylor gyratory crusher; this utilised QMS’s expertise and experience gained from working with gyratory crushers worldwide. This took two weeks, working 24/7, and was finally completed in mid-August (2024).
“The third and final stage of the project was the actual installation of the new crusher; this again further necessitated working round the clock, night and day, taking over five weeks to complete. In addition, the new crusher has a QMS-manufactured, bespoke stainless steel lubrication system, which is now integral to the crusher’s operation. We further assisted through commissioning the crusher alongside the Breedon and FLSmidth teams, ensuring it was fully operational.”
With a project of this scope and importance, QMS was not the only contractor involved. “Our task not only involved work at our end but also working with the Projects Team at Hope, including FortunumPM, which acted as Client representative, as well as the other contractors whose work was essential to the success of the project. Other contractors on the installation included PCS UK Ltd, who handled all the electrical work, Tideswell Welding Services, who handled all the ancillary fabrication and welding (not involving the crusher itself), and Access Drilling Services Ltd, who handled all the significant concrete removal work. All the contractors on the project were unfailingly first class and a pleasure to work with,” added George.
David Boole, project engineer at Hope and Breedon’s representative for the installation, said of the work undertaken by QMS and the other contractors: “We have been working with Jonathan and the team from QMS for many years now. They maintain the site’s Sandvik cone crushers (as well as the new QMS B6 cone crushers) and help to ensure Hope Works operates at optimised efficiency. The work undertaken on the installation of the FLSmidth gyratory crusher is a credit to QMS and the other contractors.”
