Our Chipping Sodbury quarry is made up of four carboniferous limestone quarries – Southfields, Brinsham East, Brinsham West and Hampstead Farm.
Located to the north of Chipping Sodbury and west of Yate, the 500-acre quarry complex sits on a ridge of limestone stretching north to Wickwar and Cromhall.
Chipping Sodbury is also home to our offices at The Ridge, which include our UK Shared Service Centre, Heidelberg Materials Group’s International Business Service Centre, Heidelberg Materials UK Contracting, our national road surfacing and infrastructure business, as well as our asphalt technical support team.
Combined around 500 employees are based in Chipping Sodbury offering a range of career and job opportunities.
Across our UK construction materials business, we’re focused on driving down carbon emissions, increasing the use of recycled materials to grow the circular economy and leading our industry towards net zero.
We are also committed to being a good neighbour and actively support local initiatives and programmes which benefit the community and environment. We work in close partnership with a number of conservation bodies to protect and enhance biodiversity at the quarry and regularly host school and college visits.
Contact us
For all enquiries, please email: chippingsodburyquarry@uk.heidelbergmaterials.com
Blasting notifications
To sign up to receive our free blasting notifications, please email us at: chippingsodburyquarry@uk.heidelbergmaterials.com and advise which method you would prefer to receive the notification; text (provide a mobile number) and/or email.
Suppliers
Click here to request information about how to become a supplier.
Proposals for quarry temporary haul road
Our proposals for a temporary haul road between Brinsham West quarry and Southfields quarry have been put on hold so we can consider next steps.
This follows our planning application being turned down and our subsequent decision to withdraw from the appeal process.
The pause provides an opportunity to undertake a fresh review of all available options, including revisiting the previously approved tunnel scheme beneath Wickwar Road to access the already consented mineral reserves.
We remain fully committed to the future of quarrying at Chipping Sodbury and to identifying the most appropriate way forward.
Quarry operations
Chipping Sodbury quarry’s mineral processing plant is currently located in Southfields, where the extraction of limestone has already been exhausted, with Brinsham East and, to a lesser extent, Hampstead Farm, the site of current mineral working.
We have made significant investment in environmental improvements to reduce dust and noise across the site in recent years. This includes installing a dust suppression system, enclosure of the screening operations at Southfields and installing sprayers on the ends of every crushed rock conveyer belt across the site.
Sprayers have also been installed alongside internal roads, which have been surfaced to keep dust down and there are wheel washes for all HGVs before leaving the quarry. We also carry out regular road sweeping of the public highway.
Operations and blasting
Our planning permissions allow for blasting to take place between 10:00 and 16:00 Mondays to Fridays, and 10:00 to 12:00 on Saturday. No blasting is permitted at any other time, i.e, Saturday afternoons, Sundays or Bank or National Holidays.
(Please note our blast times are approximate and, can be subject to change due to weather or operational safety requirements).
To sign up to receive our free blasting notifications, please email us at: chippingsodburyquarry@uk.heidelbergmaterials.com and advise which method you would prefer to receive the notification; text (provide a mobile number) and/or email.
Please see our privacy policy for details on how we manage personal data.
Biodiversity
Modern quarrying is highly regulated, and we take steps to minimise impact on the surrounding environment.
Over the last decade we have implemented extensive habitat enhancements across the quarry, including the creation of six new ponds, several temporary wet scrapes and the planting of 2,900 trees and shrubs to boost wildlife habitats and provide wildlife corridors. More recently hydroseeding of the quarry banks near the offices in Southfields has taken place as well as the planting of a further 2,900 trees to improve habitat connectivity.
The Ridge Wood nature reserve is a broadleaved woodland located to the south of the Chipping Sodbury quarry complex. It is owned by Heidelberg Materials and managed by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC), in partnership with Friends of Ridge Wood. Following the findings of a hazardous tree survey, we have recently completed a licensed tree felling programme to remove trees identified with Ash Dieback (ADB) and Sooty bark disease (see below). While it has been upsetting to see so many diseased or hazardous trees removed, our approach is now to ensure that the biodiversity of the Ridge Woods can be enhanced, including via the introduction of a rich mixture of tree and shrub species. (See FAQ section below)
The Brinsham Stream separates Brinsham West and East from the remainder of the quarry complex. The stream corridor supports a variety of habitats including dense scrub, tall herb, broad leaved woodland and species rich calcareous grassland.
To the east of Hampstead Farm, a series of shallow scrapes and ponds provide ideal habitats for a population of great crested newts.
Hazardous tree management
Ash dieback disease has impacted thousands of ash trees across the UK since it was identified in 2012. A hazardous tree survey of the trees and woodland across our Chipping Sodbury landholding identified that many ash trees are affected. Over time the infected trees would likely become increasingly brittle, drop branches and most would eventually die and collapse. Additionally, a number of Sycamore were identified as having Sooty Bark disease.
We have been taking steps to safely remove the impacted trees to ensure people’s safety. Working closely with South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) we secured a felling licence from the Forestry Commission (FC) to enable a felling programme to be carried out. Works first got underway in late 2024 and will be completed by summer 2026.
In line with best practice, the work is being carried out by specialist contractors and overseen by independent ecologists. Our approach includes the careful management of habitats and the protection of wildlife, including nesting birds, which is why the work has had to be carried out in phases.
News
Sponsored golf day raises funds for local hospital
A charity golf day organised by the Rotary Club of Chipping Sodbury raised £2,700 for the Southmead Hospital Walkerbot Appeal and other local charities, with support from our Chipping Sodbury quarry.
Stone donation helps shape Believe Memorial Garden
Our Chipping Sodbury quarry has donated a selection of natural stone boulders to the newly opened Believe Memorial Garden at Cardiff Crematorium in Thornhill, which honours those who have donated organs.
Over 700 tour quarry on open day
Over the weekend, we opened the doors to our Chipping Sodbury quarry in South Gloucestershire for a family friendly open day, raising more than £1,600 for the town’s annual festival.
Documents and reports
Supporting the community
We are active in supporting the communities near our sites as well as protecting and enhancing the local environment.
We welcome school, college and other group visits to Chipping Sodbury quarry, host community open days and carry out a broad range of regular community support initiatives.
In addition, local charities and community groups have benefitted from the donation of money, materials and time, through our employee volunteering days.
Our approach is to prioritise support for initiatives that:
• Promote education, skills and wellbeing
• Protect and/or enhance the environment
• Support biodiversity and sustainability
• Promote the community and heritage of the area
Financial and material donations are prioritised to those based within a three-mile radius of our Chipping Sodbury quarry site.
Request a donation
Click here to request a financial or materials donation or voluntary support. Please tell us about your group and/or project, what type of support you are seeking and how your project’s aims align with our priorities above.
Recent beneficiaries of our local support programme include:
- The supply of materials to the newly opened Believe Memorial Garden at Cardiff Crematorium, which honours those who have donated organs.
- The installation of Christmas lights and a Christmas tree in Chipping Sodbury town.
- Chipping Sodbury Festival – proceeds from our June 2025 Open Day supported the raising of funds.
History of the quarry
Evidence suggests that quarrying in the Chipping Sodbury area goes back to the Middle Ages, although the discovery of artefacts such as a Bronze Age axe head and Roman tiles and coins, suggests it may have been even earlier.
Limestone has been quarried commercially since the mid-1800s with high quality mineral deposits found mostly in rocks from the Triassic age.
In 1977, a tunnel was constructed beneath Wickwar Road so that quarrying could begin at Hampstead Farm. Today material is transported through the tunnel to the Southfields processing plant.
In 2015, a new excavation area in Brinsham East was opened and mineral extraction has been focused in this area since. Quarrying operations are set to soon move westwards into Brinsham West, where there are extensive and much needed permitted limestone reserves.
Join our Chipping Sodbury team, near Bristol
View available job opportunities.
Careers and apprenticeships
At Heidelberg Materials, we believe that great people make great things happen. Our Chipping Sodbury site, near Bristol, is home to many of our key functions that support the business as well as our quarrying complex.
Working at Heidelberg Materials is about being part of One Team. We operate more than 300 manufacturing sites in the UK and employ over 4,000 people, offering a variety of careers and development opportunities. These include a wide range of roles from production workers, plant operatives, engineers, technicians and drivers to sales, IT, finance and HR managers.
Our graduate scheme for specialists in engineering, geology, marketing or a STEM related discipline, offers a structured two-year programme based in a variety of locations across the UK.
We also provide various apprenticeships, giving you the opportunity to earn while you learn and secure valuable industry qualifications.
These include our three-year higher apprenticeship programme, which offers the first steps towards a number of careers in our sector from site supervisors to quantity surveying, and others for roles such as plant operators and mechanical engineers.
To find out more about the range of opportunities we offer, view current vacancies and apply, visit our careers website.