1900 - 20001900 - 2000

by Anne Hayes

EDWARD

FREDERICK CHARLES GRAHAME

(MARY)

= LAURA PHILLIPSb. 1872d. 1956

b. 4.7.1898 d. 1977

HAROLD EDWARD

(ADA)b. 12.10.1899 d. 1973

SARAHCHARLES

EMMAANNA

PETERNICHOLASANDREW

MICHAELWILLIAM

DAVIDJAMIE

EDWARDb. 1931(PAT)

RICHARDb. 1934

(JEAN)

ROBERTb. 1939

(ROSEMARY)

BRONIARODERICK

JULIEIAN

VICTORb. 1926

(GLENIS)

BLANCHEb. 1927d. 1999

TONYb. 1942

(MARILYN)

JOHNb. 1926

(BETTY)

SUSANEDWARD

MARYJANELARA

Author’s acknowledgements

The opportunity to research and write the Hills company history – of which thispublication is a summary – has been a fascinating one. As I hope these pagesdemonstrate, the Hill family and the loyal team they have gathered around them havemade an indelible mark on local history and the landscape.

My thanks go in particular to members of the family and to past and present membersof the Hills management team and workforce. Others who have helped me greatlyinclude the Rev Dr F Fuller of Stratton, Swindon; Mrs Olive Boulton; Geoff Cottle;

A 100-year adventureOVER the past couple of years we have been thinking about howwe might celebrate the coincidence of the new millennium withthe centenary of our business. In doing so, we came to realisehow little of our history we actually knew. Such information asexisted was dispersed between the (increasingly jaded) memoriesof some of the more senior members of the family. So it seemed asensible step to ask Anne Hayes, as a respected local journalist, topull together all the strands and to take a “warts and all” look athow we have arrived where we are today.

We have published the outcome not because we think this familybusiness is any greater or more unusual than any other butbecause we think it is fairly typical of an era in which enterprisewas built on adventure. It is, therefore, a story which we think isworth the telling.

The business which my grandfather founded a century ago hascertainly been an adventure, evolving from brick manufacturethrough transport, to gravel, waste and property with the oddexcursion into areas such as tyres, farming, ready-mixed concreteand builders merchants. “Anything, Anywhere, Any Time” wascertainly an appropriate motto.

There have, inevitably, been good times and tough times but Iwould like to think that the spirit which brought the companyinto being is still burning strongly. If that is the case then it is duein no small part to the colleagues who have committed theircareers to the Hills family business. Whether in the warmth of theboardroom or on a much less hospitable site, our thanks go to allof them.

We move into the new millennium as a strong business nowfocused very firmly on three key activities – aggregates, waste andproperty. Our greatest asset in those orany other sectors which fate takes usinto over the next 100 years willundoubtedly be our people.

Robert HillChairman

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1900 - 20001900 - 2000

WILLIAM JOHN ROWLAND

(ELSIE)b. 7.2.1901 d. 1980

MERVYN EWARTPHILLIPS

(BETTY)b. 1907 d. 1991

GORDONb. 1930

(AUDREY)

FIONAJAMES

GEMMA

ROSEMARYb. 1.2.33

(ANGUS)

BEVERLEYb. 4.10.35

(MARY)div

ALFREDb. 29.8.45

(ROSEMARY)

ANDREA CAROLYN

HUGHCATHERINE

CHARLOTTERUPERT

Roger Brown of the Cotswold Water Park Society; the Cirencester and Swindonreference libraries; the Swindon Society; the Royal Commission on the HistoricalMonuments of England; and the Natural Environment Research Council.

I am grateful to Alfred, Beverley, Robert, Tony, Edward, Richard and Victor Hill, CyrilHares and to everyone who entrusted treasured pictures to me. Barrie Hedges of FrenchJones was responsible for the original concept and Malcolm Henwood for the design.

Anne Hayes3

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THE Hills work hard and play hard. For thelast 100 years those two characteristics

combined with energy, enterprise, affability andconfidence have been the hallmarks of the Hillfamily in business.

It’s a special blend which has enabled the familyto weather the ups and downs of business lifeand emerge united and successful into thesecond millennium.

Family feeling is strong among the Hills but byno means exclusive. Non-family members havealways been valued within the business. It’s thatastuteness and generosity of spirit which haskept the company afloat when many otherbusinesses have foundered on a desire to “keepit in the family”.

Based for most of the last century in Swindon,the company has grown from a one-manbusiness into a multi-million pound concern

A Hill family portrait takenin the late 19th century.Edward is second on the left,back row Photo courtesy of the Rev F Fuller

Edward Hill in 1918

Edward Hill (centre) and his foursons, from left to right, Grahame,Rowland, Mervyn and Harold

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based in Marlborough. From making bricks, ithas progressed through a multiplicity of buildingoperations to focus on aggregates, waste disposaland recycling, and house building.

The Hills family business began with EdwardHill, a strong enterprising individual. Hisleadership and shrewdness propelled thecompany on its way to today’s success and afuture in tune with the new millennium.

Through itsindependenceand integrityand the loyaltyof its workers,the family hasprovided thefoundations ofmany buildingsand landmarks inthe region today –from motorwaysto the CotswoldWater Park.

Throughout, thefamily has

produced capable sons who have carried thecompany into the fourth generation. EdwardHill fathered four sons, three of whom wereto play a major part in the business –Grahame, Harold and Mervyn. All lived andbreathed the business, and when they weren’tdoing that they were playing cards, tennis,bowls, music, duck shooting or doing their bitfor the community.

Their sons – Victor, Tony, Beverley, Richard,Robert and Edward – played and still play theirroles in the business, along with executives theHills were unafraid to promote and trust. Menlike Harry Boulton, Stan Goss, Don Howard,Alan Pardoe and others.

Rowland, Edward’s third son, left the businessduring the war to pursue a farming life atBroome Manor. The family retained its interestin farming and country pursuits for many years.

The annual Clay Pigeon Club dinner,at the Kings Arms, Swindon, 1951.Left to right, Mervyn, Rowland andGrahame Hill are the Moonrakers – amuch enjoyed feature of Hills eventsand family gatherings

Report in the Swindon Evening Advertiserof Friday, August 24, 1956

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THE first member of the family to establishhimself in Swindon was Edward Hill, the

company founder’s father who came from nearWeston-super-Mare. His family had long beeninvolved in brick and tile-making and with boats,in Somerset.

Edward settled in Stratton St Margaret in themiddle of the 19th century, and married a localgirl, Emily Iles. He gave up hauling coal inbarges and worked as a master craftsman atStratton Potteries. Later, he managed three localbrickworks. The family became PrimitiveMethodists and eldest son, William, was wellknown as a preacher.

The bold spirit of the family was clearlydemonstrated by Edward’s second son, alsoEdward. In 1891 at the age of 19, he and afriend spent two years in the United States,working for a time in a brickworks – anepisode which was to influence much of hislater thinking about brick production.

There is a family legend that Edward workedas an engine driver for the Great WesternRailway. What is certain is that soon after hisreturn from America he took on themanagement of the Transfer Brickworks inCounty Road, Swindon.

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By 1900, at the age of 28, he was working for himself at theMorris Street Brickworks in Rodbourne. Six years laterEdward acquired three brickworks – at Kingshill, atBadbury and at Purton. By then trading as E Hill, he neverlooked back.

The Purton works was to become the main brickworks ofthe growing company. In the years before the First WorldWar Edward made an agreement with GWR for the use ofrail sidings close to the claypit to speed the despatch of hisproducts. Other improvements were made and Purtonvillagers soon had a new landmark – a 100ft brick chimney.

The 1914-18 war proved a significant period for thecompany. As well as stimulating increased brick production,it led to diversification and the start of Hills fleet of lorries,both steam and petrol-driven. After the war, Edward beganto dig gravel in South Cerney; prospecting for gravel was tobecome a major part of his life. He also bought or leased astone quarry at Stratton, Cirencester.

Purton Brickworks, run for many years byHarold Hill and later by son Victor

The Earl Kitchener

Chimneys at Purton

The clay pit at Purton

Stacking the continuous kiln atPurton, left to right, R. Bastin,G. Woolford, A. Kinnet andK. Zeleck

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THE war years in Swindon are broughtvividly alive through the diaries of Grahame

Hill, Edward’s son, for many years managingdirector and chairman of Hills.

As in 1914-18, the conflict ushered in a period offrenetic activity for the partnership, as it thenwas, consisting of Edward and three of his sons –E Hill & Sons – based at Kingshill.

The family was at the heart of wartime activities

in Swindon and the surrounding area. Owning asthey did a large number of lorries which wererequisitioned by the Army, the family business alsoreceived a liberal petrol allowance for essentialactivities such as hauling gravel and timber fornew aerodromes, excavating foundations forwartime factories and supplying air raid shelters.

The brothers set up the Kingshill Home Guardwhich most of the employees joined and whichoccupied much of the time of Grahame and

How the Swindon Evening Advertisertold the Spitfire story on its front pageon September 6 1940

Kingshill Home Guard c1941. Mervyn Hill is fourth from left, front row Photo: D. Bedford/Swindon Society

The Kingshill or Hills Home Guardshow off a new gun at the tennis

courts at Okus

Swindon ARP men with a display ofhousehold air raid shelters c1942.

The shelter was erected by E Hill & SonsPhoto: A. Beaney/Swindon Society

Photo: D. Bedford/Swindon Society8

off Tunisia, but survived toreturn to Kingshill after the war.

Most aspects of living underwartime conditions are revealedin the diaries – the air raids,Churchill’s speeches, the shortageof sweets, of silk stockings.Mervyn was kept busy helpingthe company to make do andmend and keep costs down byextending the working life ofvehicles and machinery.

The business acquired BartonCourt at Kintbury, nearNewbury, later to become veryimportant for Hills during thewar. There is a diary note forD-Day June 6, 1944, in whichGrahame says he and a friendwere inspecting the roof of thenew property when they saw

glider planes leaving from local aerodromes for France.

In May 1945, a party to celebrate the end of the warwas held in Hills field at Okus, Swindon.

Mervyn – Harold was on active service with theArmy in Europe. Their patriotism led to thedonation of a £1,000 cheque from the companyto the Swindon Spitfire Fund in September 1940.

During this time, gravel digging andprospecting began in earnest at Newburyand both Harry Boulton and Stan Goss,two memorable names in Hills lore,joined the company. Another employee,Peter Carver, was reported shot down

Extract from Grahame Hill’s diary for September 3 1940 –the declaration of war. Grahame kept his diary throughout

his life until his death in 1977

The cheque which the Hill family sent to the SwindonSpitfire fund in 1940

Beverley Hill as a schoolboy helpingwith earthmoving on a USAAF

tractor at Hills site at Lower Way,Thatcham, Newbury, 1945

The Hill family in 1943 with four members in uniform.Back row, fifth from left, Mervyn Hill; back row, far right,

Victor Hill; second row left, Grahame Hill in Home Guarduniform and second from right, Harold Hill

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Anything

anywher

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any time

Anything

anywher

e

any time

Anything

anywher

e

any time

IN the years after the war, the Hills transportfleet flourished in terms of its diversity, size

and efficiency. Former drivers remember theperiod with mixed affection and astonishment athow hard they worked.

By 1957 the business, which had become alimited company three years earlier, operatedaround 100 goods vehicles. A London transportbase was set up and two companies were formed– Hills Haulage (Swindon) Ltd and HillsHaulage (London) Ltd.

Growth between 1954 and 1969 was slow but

In the 1960s Hills offered a HGV training serviceat Badbury brickworks. John Parker instructs

Earl Kitchener, used by Hills in theearly part of this century and picturedhere in scarlet glory when owned by the

showmen, R Edwards & Sons LtdPhoto taken by Roy Thomas

of Swindon Camera Club

First prize – a 1920s photo of a Hills lorry taking part in acarnival procession displaying the firm’s motto at the time:Anything, Anywhere, Any time. Harold Hill is on the right

investment continued in plant, vehicles and gravelland. Sand pits at Calne and Newbury; gravel pitsat Lacock, Newbury and South Cerney; precastconcrete works at South Cerney; block-making atPurton; and brickworks at Purton and Badburyensured customer needs were met.

Administration was carr ied out at Kingshill underGrahame’s direction wh ile plant hire and repair,research and developme nt came under Mervyn.Harold, on returning fr om the war, had takenup the reins at the brickworks.

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This period saw the birth of Hills Tyre Services Ltd(Tyresoles), which supplied reconditioned tyres for the fleetand customers. Another associated company, VaculugSouthern Services Ltd, provided retreaded tractor tyres.Richard Hill was the leading force behind these twosuccessful subsidiaries.

In 1960 some of Hills vehicles were fitted with two-wayradio by Mervyn, a radio enthusiast from his youth. Theinstallation was ahead of its time but could create havoc as

Grahame noted in his diary: “Radio communicationscausing chaos in front office”.

When the concept of ready-mixedconcrete burst on the building scene

in the 1960s, Hills became involvedand subsidiaries were formed –

Mixconcrete Swindon, MixconcreteNewbury, Mixconcrete Devizes and

Mixconcrete Bristol.

A feature of the years immediately after1945 was the employment by Hills of

German prisoners of war and later of Italianworkmen, some of whom stayed on in

Swindon to form the nucleus of the town’spresent day Italian community.

An early brickdelivery vehiclefrom the 1920s.This four-wheeldrive lorry hada mechanisedcontainer for tippingits entire load

Background picture shows mobile craneat work erecting a steel framed buildingin Regent Circus, Swindon, in the 1960s

A Drott excavator being lowered into the tunnelbeneath Swindon Station in the 1960s.Driver Cyril Hares has vivid memories of operatingthis machine as trains thundered by overhead

Cyril Hares clearing a site at Moredon,Swindon, ready for new housing, 1963

Hills driver George Sangerand the 1938 Bedford lorry

he drove for many yearsPhoto lent by his son,

Brian Sanger of Chiseldon

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AGGREGATES have been the base of Hillsactivities throughout its existence. Digging

and prospecting for sand and gravel wereconstant preoccupations of the Hill family.

The early memories of their offspring are oftenof sitting in the back seat of Dad’s or Grandpa’scar and being driven off to South Cerney orNewbury or to a spot in the middle of nowherewhile the adult Hills prodded the ground orbored holes.

At the start of the new millennium, theCotswold Water Park is the most importantgravel extraction site in the South West. Thelakes formed by gravel digging have becomenationally important for wildlife and for sport.

Hills has been active in the area since 1919 andwas probably the first mineral extractor to digthere closely followed by another Swindon firm,Bradleys. Hills still operates in the water parkwhere it has substantial aggregate reserves.Extraction began seriously during the war yearswhen the first lakes were being formed.

A Ruston Bucyrus Excavator with grab loading an “S” type petrol Bedford6 ton tipper at the Broadway Lane North Gravel Plant, South Cerney

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Frozen gravel lakeat South Cerneyin the winter of

1962-63

Harold’s son, Tony, who joined the business in1960 recalls that the first large lake, Lake 17,was wet-dug by dragline and the aggregatesloaded onto barges. Tony was at South Cerneyduring the severe winter of 1962-63 when theice on the lake was so thick cars could be drivenacross it. Later, dry digging was introduced,water was pumped out of the pit so the operatorcould see what he was digging.

As soon as the lakes were created they were used forfishing or boating. Lake 17 was let to the BristolHydroplane Racing Club and there was fishing and jetskiracing on Lake 21. Hills decided to run the leisureactivities as part of the business and in 1971 the CotswoldMarina Company was formed.

Despite the great activity of the 1960s, the decade was anunsettled and worrying period for Hills financially,although the coming of motorways to the Swindon areaproved a boon thanks to the high demand for sand andgravel. Robert, Grahame’s youngest son, joined thecompany after qualifying as a chartered accountant andbecame managing director in 1968.

Early processing ofsand and gravel

An early draglineexcavator at work

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Cotswold Marina, once a gravel pit,Broadway Lane, South Cerney

Builders merchants counter, Kingshill, Swindon

Builders merchants yard,Kingshill, Swindon

Lorry from Bristol Depot

Sage & Down, Worle Quarry14

Anon-family member of great significance tothe company, Don Howard, was appointed

director and general manager in 1969.

His appointment ushered in aperiod of expansion and ofincreased profitability. Together

with Robert, he also changed themanagement ethos – the main thrust was

that future family members should be content toreceive dividends rather than jobs.

Unprofitable operations were improved or sold.Brickworks were closed, at Devizes in 1968 andat Badbury in 1970 but the land was retained.Accountancy procedures were improved; thecompany divested itself of the long distancehaulage companies; plant hire was reorganisedand the servicing workshop was scaled down.

The non-investment in transportmarked the end of the

traditional “muck away”

from building sites. Instead, investment was made in morespecialised waste disposal facilities – skips for hire.

Perhaps the most important theme of the 1970s wasexpansion. It began with the purchase of T F Coke(Cheltenham) Ltd, then T S Thomas & Sons Ltd ofChepstow and Tintern. Sage & Down Ltd of Worle, nearWeston-super-Mare. Lulsgate Quarry, south of Bristol, wasalso bought to supply roadstone materials.

The purchase in 1975 of Broadmoor Brickworks inCinderford, was to prove a catalyst. The brickworksbought liquid propane gas to fire the kilns direct fromShell at a vastly cheaper price than Hills was paying atPurton where its supplier was Calor Gas.

Gas tanks were installed at Purton and gas bought directfrom the oil companies. In 1976, Robert persuaded twoindependent distributors to buy their own bottles to befilled by Hills. These were Handygas, of Swindon, andSungas which distributed gas in Bristol. Hills went on tobuy both in 1978 and 1979. By 1987, following thesetting up of a South Wales depot and the acquisition ofEverygas Ltd in Devon, the Handygas empire stretchedfrom South Wales through the Thames Valley to Devon.

Two years later, multi-national oil companies werecompeting to buy companies such as Handygas. BP madeHills an offer it couldn’t refuse.

Working at the Lulsgatequarry face near Bristol

Shareholders and directorsat the 80th anniversarydinner at the Goddard

Arms Hotel, Swindon

Using the dry digging method,a tractor shovel can dig andload in one operation

Hills bought Handygas in 197815

Frontcover and pages

from the free Hills HomeImprovement Centre newspaper

Hobsons Choice Opening:from left to right, Victor Hill,

Eric Morecambe, Edward Hill,Glenys Hill, Tony Hill and

Lyn Hill

THE major profit contribution in the 1970sand 1980s was earned by Hills Building

Supplies. After the war the “heavyside” divisionwas developed and carried a wide-ranging stockof drainage pipes, bricks, cement, timber andother materials.

The operation was based at Kingshill and hadgradually evolved over a long period as buildersbrought in waste to dump in the worked-outclaypit so that the area could be filled andlevelled and storage sheds erected. All had beendone in a spasmodic fashion as, thanks to thediversity of Hills operations, drivers and otheremployees could always be found work fillingin the yard if there was a slack period.

Hills of Swindon’s new showroom. Peter Ball, brick sales manager,sorting bricks in the brick library

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Brochure front cover for County Park

A brick library was built there in 1971, containing 400types of facing bricks. There was further expansion in 1976when a second depot was opened at Brislington.

The company, always alert to current trends, was in thevanguard of the booming DIY home improvement era withthe launch in 1977 of the Hills Home Improvement Centre,again at Kingshill. This first venture into the retail trade,was opened by comedian Eric Morecambe.

Everything was stocked here from a tap washer to abathroom suite as well as items for the garden – in all atotal of 22,000 light and heavyside items were available tothe public.

Grahame Hill died shortly after the opening in May 1977but lived to see the company regain its profitability. Hisdeath brought to an end any involvement in the business by

the sons of the founder. Mervyn had retired in1972 to live in Gozo, Malta, and Harold had

died in 1973. Robert became chairman of thefamily company at the age of 38.

Thanks to the hard work of this elder generationthe company was bequeathed a substantial land

asset base.

In the 1980s Hills put the merchanting operation upfor sale after attempts to boost it had failed due to

market forces.

The builders merchants was relocated to County Park inShrivenham Road and bought by Keyline. Patio Centres

closed while Hobson’s Choice moved to County Park,which was retained as a property investment. Hills moved

its headquarters from Kingshill to Marlborough in 1990into offices on the old Ailesbury Arms Hotel site.

The sell-offs coincided with a market boom which revealedthe potential of the Kingshill site. In 1991, a joint venturewas negotiated with Persimmon Homes and the last housewas sold in 1997.

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ANEW direction which was to lead to thecompany’s greatest prosperity to date was

taken in 1968 when Hills purchased its first skipvehicle – the basic tool of waste disposal. Soon thecompany had acquired a fleet of skips run inconjunction with plant hire.

Holes in the ground, particularly worked-outclay pits, had always been valuable for fillingwith builders’ rubble and, as house building

increased, for the disposal of household waste.

The end of Badbury brickworks

This Bellis & Morcom Marine steam engine was bought in 1953and used at Purton Brickworks until 1977 when diesel engines

were installed. It is to be renovated as a millennium project and will be put on display in Purton

The former Hills gravel site at Thatchamhas become an industrial estate

Islip Roseman – championship winnerfrom Hills Farms

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This lovely old house close to Purtonbrickworks was used by Hills for manyyears, both as a residence and later asoffices. It no longer exists

Other, and older, parts of the business came to an end.Hills Farms Ltd – Barton Court at Kintbury, High PennFarm at Calne and West Marsh Farm at Purton – waswound up in 1984 when its managing director EdwardHill, Graham’s eldest son, retired.

One-by-one the brickworks closed, squeezed out by thelarge brick-makers operating nationally. Devizes went in1968, Badbury in 1970 and finally, Purton in 1977.The Thatcham gravel site, near Newbury, became anindustrial estate and 110 acres of land were reclaimed atBadbury. Purton proved a valuable landfill site and a sourceof impermeable clay for projects such as lining the restoredKennet and Avon Canal. Today, the Purton site alsohouses an industrial estate, Hills transport depot and arecycling centre.

As the financial restrictions of the 1980s pushed thecompany overdraft to unacceptable levels, the workforcewas reduced at the Kingshill workshop. Welford pit, nearNewbury, was sold, as were Broadmoor brickworks, HillsReadymix Ltd, Sage & Down Ltd and the Thomas groupof companies.

Hills decided to increase aggregatereserves and boost the buildingsupplies side. Two major gravelsites were bought in 1984, atShorncote and Faringdon. Butthe push on the merchantingside, all based at Kingshill,came to nothing.

Alan Pardoe became managingdirector in 1992, with Robert

Hill as chairman. Under theirdirection, the company has

concentrated on a narrower butprofitable range of activities. Today,family ownership and management go

hand-in-hand, with the shareholdersknowing more about the business than

perhaps they ever had before.

Compactor on Volvo F6 skipvehicle, Swindon, Brunel Centre

Beverley Hill, mainly involved with planningapplications and licences, also helped the company

realise the potential of skips

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SINCE 1992, the business hasexperienced a new style of management.

Managers are allowed to manage, memos are fewbut a lot of talking goes on. Family members –the shareholders – are kept fully up to date withwhat is happening.

In 1997, the company changed its name toThe Hills Group Ltd, shaking off the by theninaccurate identification with Swindon.Wiltshire is still the main hub of activity as are,to a more limited extent, Gloucestershire,Berkshire and Oxfordshire. With the purchasein 1998 of Roger Constant & Co, Hills

expanded into Worcestershire.

Its prosperity is based on three strands –aggregates, waste disposal and property. Withthe change of title the company was restructuredaround these three spheres of operation. Themain trading company is Hills Minerals & WasteLtd, with trading divisions, Hills Aggregatesand Hills Waste. Hills Property Ltd operates theother principal trading company via its housebuilding arm, County Homes, and contractingside, Olivemead Developments.

Head office inMarlborough

Transport of newly excavatedaggregates for processing

A customer-orientated wastemanagement and recycling service

Metals baled and

ready for recycling

The Hills waste recycling centre

at Compton Bassett

Separation of waste for recycling

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Hills Aggregates, one of the largest regional suppliers ofsand and gravel to the construction industry, runs sevenquarries on six sites: Shorncote; Latton (a joint venturewith Aggregate Industries); Stourport, Worcestershire;Tubney Woods, near Oxford; Bowling Green Farm,Faringdon; and Compton Bassett, near Calne. In addition,large aggregate reserves are held by the company, mainly inthe Cotswold Water Park.

The group’s second major sphere of operation is wastemanagement. It runs a comprehensive waste and recyclingbusiness covering a wide swathe from Chippenham toNewbury and Salisbury. In 1996, the company’s carefulapproach to waste disposal and land restoration wasrewarded by a 20-year contract, worth £55 million, tohandle the disposal and recycling of waste from mostof Wiltshire.

A major feature of the contact is Hills commitment torecycling and reclamation. By the end of the fifth year ofthe contract, 2001, the group has to have found ways ofdealing with 25 per cent of waste by means other thanlandfill. To achieve this a major recycling facility was

constructed at Compton Bassett,opened in 1998 by MEP

Caroline Jackson.

High standards ofhousekeeping are

maintained on gravel sites

Managing directorAlan Pardoe meets the

Wiltshire Waste Warrior,figurehead of the company’s

recycling initiative

Quality propertiesbuilt by CountyHomes

A typical landfilloperation

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Falcons are used tofrighten scavenging birds

away from a landfill site

HILLS operates landfill sites at BarnGround, near Ashton Keynes; Chapel

Farm, off Blunsdon Hill, Purton brickworksand Tubney Woods. Space is precious and Hillsare at the forefront of waste minimisation andrecycling initiatives in its operating area.Restoration and after-care standards aremaintained at a high level.

A natural follow-on from waste disposal is Hillsinvolvement with green issues, particularly in

the Cotswold Water Park. The Cotswold WaterPark Society, which manages the park, endorsesthe company’s responsible approach toextraction in aiding the evolution of anattractive new environment.

For each site the company has a five year after-care programme. After this, the site becomeseligible for an industry award and to date Hillshas four major awards for restoration work inthe water park.

Robert Hill and Alan Pardoejoin Prince Charles for a visit

to an organic farm projectsupported from landfill tax

Cows graze on restored farmland

Strict environmentalcontrols are

maintained onall sites

Returning thePurtonlandfill site toagriculture

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Traditional methods such asreed beds help to protect water

quality on a waste site

The group has taken full advantage of legislation whichallows it to allocate funds, which would otherwise go tolandfill tax, to local green causes such as the WiltshireWildlife Trust, the Cotswold Water Park Society, PurtonCommunity Hall and Compton Bassett church. Othersponsorships include the regeneration of part of BraydonForest, Purton; the Swillbrook nature reserve; andupgrading canal locks and the pumping station at Wilton.

The third and most recent plank of the business meant asignificant diversification when Hills went into theconstruction business. True to founder Edward’s dictumnot to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds, orcompete with its customers, the family had never beenbuilders. In 1998, however, it bought out builders

Olivemead Developmentsand today, under the nameCounty Homes, has sitesunder constructionthroughout Wiltshire and isaiming for a £8 millionturnover by 2001.

Since focusing on threecore activities, the companyhas expanded greatly and isnow better placed than everwith 15 years still to run ofthe Wiltshire WasteContract, a booming housebuilding side and excellentreserves of aggregate andlandfill space.

There are no plans to sellor to go public and arepresentative of the nextgeneration, Michael,Robert’s son, has alreadyentered the business.The future looks rosy.

Celebrating a Sand and GravelAssociation restoration award

A serene restoration in the Cotswold Water Park23

Ailesbury Court, High Street,Marlborough, Wiltshire SN8 1AA

Tel: 01672 516111Fax: 01672 516198