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Careys completes Holcim Tilbury works with NPC’s support

By Richard High, 24 October, 2025
An orange, zero tail-swing midi excavator lifts a pile cropper on a construction site National Pile Croppers’ PC400 in use at Holcim UK’s Tilbury terminal, where Careys installed and cropped more than 3,500 driven concrete piles.

Careys has completed civil engineering works for Holcim UK’s new cement manufacturing and distribution facility at the Port of Tilbury, marking a major milestone in one of the most advanced cement terminals in the UK.

A key part of the three-year project involved installing and cropping more than 3,500 driven concrete piles of various sizes – 250 mm, 300 mm, 350 mm and 400 mm – installed by Aarsleff and finished to level using hydraulic pile croppers supplied by National Pile Croppers (NPC).

Working closely with Careys, NPC provided its MultiBar Large and newly developed PC400 croppers, both designed for fast, safe and precise pile reduction. The tools were used throughout the foundation phase for the facility’s storage hall, silo array, vertical roller mill (VRM), conveyor systems and site infrastructure.

“By combining our new PC400 cropper with the proven MultiBar Large, we were able to deliver consistent, clean cuts with minimal trimming,” said Roy Taylor, of National Pile Croppers. “Careys reported high levels of productivity and efficiency on this challenging project.”

A close-up of a blue, National Pile Croppers PC400 hydraulic cropper in action at Holcim UK’s Tilbury site, precision-cutting 400 mm precast piles for Careys’ civil engineering works. National Pile Croppers’ PC400 hydraulic cropper in action at Holcim UK’s Tilbury site, precision-cutting 400 mm precast piles for Careys’ civil engineering works.

The PC400, suitable for precast piles up to 400 mm with multiple reinforcement bars, was developed in-house by NPC and can be used with 6-tonne excavators. Its compact 550 kg design and four-ram configuration enable controlled cropping in 250 mm sections, leaving rebar intact for safe lifting and recycling.

Careys’ work at Tilbury covered all groundworks, foundations, utilities, drainage, and site roads, using Holcim’s ECOPact low-carbon concrete, recycled aggregates and reclaimed asphalt. In total, 25,000 m³ of concrete and 10,000 tonnes of asphalt from the original site were reused, alongside 20,000 tonnes of excavated material processed through Holcim’s waste management division.

The civil works’ completion marks a key stage for Holcim UK, as the project now moves into structural and mechanical installation. Once operational, the Tilbury terminal will play a central role in Holcim’s strategy to drive innovation, circularity and decarbonisation across the UK construction sector.

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