Our Padeswood works opened in 1949 to supply cement to help rebuild post-war Britain. It is one of three cement plants owned by Heidelberg Materials in the UK and produces both bulk and packed products.
Heidelberg Materials’ nearby Cefn Mawr quarry provides the limestone needed for cement manufacture at Padeswood and has also been included in our parent company Heidelberg Materials' Quarry Life Awards, aimed at supporting and increasing biodiversity at our sites.
Padeswood cement works has been operating since 1949 and supplies bulk and packed cement products to local and national customers. It was initially owned and operated by the Tunnel Portland Cement Company, which became Castle Cement in 1986, part of the HeidelbergCement Group. When HeidelbergCement acquired Hanson UK in May 2007, the company became Hanson Cement. In September 2022, HeidelbergCement Group rebranded to Heidelberg Materials and, the following year, Hanson UK changed its name to Heidelberg Materials UK .
Initially there were two wet kilns at the Padeswood site which were supplemented by a dry kiln in the mid-1960s. In 1998, HeidelbergCement announced that kiln 4 was to be built; a modern FLSmidth five-stage pre-calciner, with an in-line calciner and a downdraft calciner that was specifically designed to burn alternative fuels. The kiln was commissioned in 2006 and the three older kilns were decommissioned.
Recent capital investment in the plant has resulted in enhanced production capacity and efficiency savings of around 30 per cent through the installation of a new cement grinding mill. Combined with one of the existing ball mills, this helped match grinding capacity with kiln capacity. Removing this discrepancy at the plant meant that thousands of tonnes of raw material no longer need to be transported to other sites for grinding into cement. Other site improvements include three new rail cement silos which have been installed alongside the existing railhead. This allows up to three trains a week to be loaded for deliveries to our depots in London, Bristol or Glasgow, significantly reducing the transportation of cement produced at Padeswood to customers by road.
The Padeswood site is also home to an Eco Centre, which is run by pupils from specialist school Ysgol Maes Hyfryd in Flintshire. It includes a poly-tunnel and raised beds as well as an eco-classroom and wooded area with a fire pit.
General enquiries
For all enquiries, please email padeswoodcement@uk.heidelbergmaterials.com or telephone: 01244 550330
Information for suppliers
Request information on how to become a supplier.
Contact the site
If you wish to raise a complaint please contact the Duty Shift Manager on 07713685676 (24/7), or the Site Security Team on 01244 550330 (24/7)
A world-leading carbon capture facility
We have signed final contracts with the UK Government for our world-leading carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at Padeswood. It means that we are now going ahead with our plans to build the world’s first carbon capture facility to enable fully decarbonised cement production at the site.
The project will bring significant economic benefits to the area through investment and job creation, as well as capturing almost all of the CO₂ produced at the existing works.
Supporting early careers at Padeswood
We have welcomed five new faces at Padeswood – four engineering apprentices and a graduate trainee manager, strengthening our commitment to skills development and local employment in north Wales.
Outdoor learning area gets a boost – and a slide!
Pupils at Ysgol Derwenfa Primary School in Leeswood, Flintshire, are enjoying a brand new outdoor learning area and playground, thanks to a donation from our Padeswood cement works.
Liaison group minutes
Our liaison group committee meets regularly to discuss our operations and future thinking. It includes members from a range of interested parties, such as local and county council representatives, our regulator National Resources Wales (NRW), and local residents.
Minutes from previous meetings can be viewed below:
Supporting our community
As a responsible operator, we want to play our part in supporting communities close to our sites as well as protecting and enhancing the local environment.
We 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 supporting:
- Education, skills, and wellbeing
- Protecting/enhancing the environment and
- Promoting the community and heritage of Flintshire
Assistance is prioritised to groups making applications from within a three-mile radius of our Padeswood site. To make an application for funding, material donation and/or volunteer support please tell us about your group and/or project, what type of support you are seeking and how your project’s aims dovetail with our support initiative goals set out above. Please complete the following form.
Beneficiaries
Recent beneficiaries of our local support programme include:
- Ysgol Derwenfa Primary School in Leeswood, Flintshire received a £6,000 donation for a brand new outdoor learning area and playground
- Westwood Primary School’s breakfast club: a further donation of £1,000
- Flintshire County Council: £380 towards a charity dinner to raise funds for Mind and Lymphoma Research
- Buckley Town Council: a pallet of bagged cement worth £600 for a charity event
- Buckley Cricket Club: £175
- Flintshire Bowling Federation: £200
- Ysgol Gwernaffield: £50 raffle prize
- Castell Alun High School: £75 hamper prize
- Mold Alex girls under-11 football team: £1,000 for new kit
- Hawarden Rangers boys under-14 football team £1,000 for new kit
Careers and apprenticeships
Working at Heidelberg Materials is about being part of One Team.