The UK’s market leader in highway maintenance

The UK’s market leader in highway maintenance – UltraCrete – has this month announced it has successfully worked with the UK’s leading construction and infrastructure company to deliver the highest reduction to date in pothole repairs across their Area 9 highway network.

Using pothole and repair data gathered over two years, Kier worked with Tamworth based Instarmac, home of UltraCrete the highway maintenance brand, to review repair programmes and deliver a solution to the number of pothole repairs required across the network.

The result has been a reported 82% reduction in the number of repeat visits to pothole repairs across the area and which – by using Instarmac’s trademarked product – UltraCrete Tough Patch – could significantly reduce maintenance costs to both Local Authorities and highway contractors across the country.

The statistics come on the back of last month’s National Pothole Day and where a report – commissioned by UltraCrete – identified figures including 66% of motorists having experienced damage to their vehicles, an accident rate of 21% amongst cyclists and 81% of Local Authorities fearing the issue of potholes had increased in the last five years.

Speaking about the record 82% reduction and their partnership with Kier, UltraCrete Manager, Richard Moss said: “The statistics contained within The Pothole Crisis Report shows the many challenges, costs and, worse still, the many accidents caused by these. It was therefore critically important to us that we worked closely with Kier to develop a solution that drastically reduced – not only the number of pothole repairs – but also the number of repeat visits to these sites.

“As such, we worked closely to identify the product which – based on Kier’s two years of data – would deliver substantial cost savings for construction service companies and local authorities, and most importantly, create safer roads for road users.”

UltraCrete Tough Patch is an industry accredited and approved surface material that acts as a first time, permanent repair and which accepts traffic immediately following installation. By applying this material across sites identified as part of Kier’s two-year data collection programme, the partnership successfully achieved the significant 82% reported figure and will be looking to emulate this success across other parts of the country.

Established in 1977, Instarmac has carved a reputation for delivering some of the most innovative pothole repair and highway maintenance materials in the country. Operating from its state-of-the-art facility in Tamworth, the business has five product brands – UltraCrete, UltraScape, UltraTileFix, UltraFloor and Wondertex – and sells to 40 countries across the globe.

The company has supported National Pothole Day since its inception, and has commissioned the Pothole Crisis Report to actively lobby for funding and action.