Fletcher Building’s Winstone Aggregates is growing, announcing it is buying a locally-owned Auckland-based quarry business with operations at Onehunga and Henderson, prompted partly by environmental reasons.

Amanda Croft, Winstone Aggregates general manager, said that the entity had bought The Urban Quarry, which the Companies Office shows is now trading as Drury Cleanfill, directed by Brian Kilgannon and Shayne McLachlan.

No price was disclosed.

The purchase “marks a major milestone of Winstone Aggregates fast track plan to extend its circular and recycling solutions for our customers”, she said.

It provides aggregate for city-based construction sites and collects construction and demolition waste.

Croft explained the reasons.

“Within the construction industry, there is an opportunity to provide more sustainable solutions through increased focus on the circular life cycle of concrete. While there is a degree of recycling undertaken in the industry for construction and demolition waste the reality is that there is still a large proportion that could be diverted from landfill and upcycled back into the construction industry. The trick is capturing sufficient waste quantities at a central point to enable recycling on an efficient scale,” she said.

The Urban Quarry achieved that, she said.

 “With traditional quarries operating further away from urban areas, transportation of concrete waste is an expensive and unsustainable option. Operations such as The Urban Quarry, which cater specifically for the needs of urban development, are increasingly becoming an integral part of the circular waste solution for growing cities,” she said.

The Urban Quarry said it was created in 2014 “to meet the needs of the construction industry in Auckland. With the closure of inner-city quarries, contractors were being forced to travel greater distances to obtain aggregate supplies and clean-fill tipping. The Urban Quarry’s central location allows operators to increase their productivity and operate in a more efficient way.”

Winstone Aggregates ceased operations at its Three Kings Quarry some years ago and Fletcher Residential is now building homes there.

The Stonefields area is now a suburban housing zone, built within the boundaries of an ex-Winstone quarry.

Winstone Aggregates was originally established by immigrant coal merchant and carrier William Winstone and his younger brother George. It now operates 11 extractive quarries, two joint venture quarries, four clean fills, six laboratories and a fleet of 80 bulk trucks to carry its goods.