Q and A with Simon Bradbury

"Head of Surfacing and Civils"

"I have been working for Slatter Estates Surfaces for 3 ½ years and in the industry for 35 years!"

"We are able offer a full surfacing and civils package but significantly we have the advantage of being supported by our parent company, The Slatter Group, that incorporates White Horse Contractors and S&C Slatter . This enables us to offer a broad and relevant package of external works to our clients, where others cannot. We offer everything from earthworks, landscaping, irrigation and drainage, natural and artificial turf sports pitches to full road & car park construction. This is the main reason that SES is set apart from others, and through our continued professional development and combined knowledge of over 75 years’ experience within the SES team we can deliver on time and on budget!"

"The latest one that springs to mind is Bedfont Lakes Business Park, which is a large corporate business park built over 25 years ago and hold the prestige of being the biggest underground and overground car park construction in Europe at that time. There is 15000 m2 of car parking on the overground section that needed revitalising following a major refurbishment to all the office units. The existing surface was stripped back, and a full repair and resurfacing package was carried out enhancing the aesthetics of the entire business park. We have a further phase to the perimeter road to complete in the summer.

On a smaller scale, an old office block in an industrial business park Twyford, Berkshire was converted into luxury apartments. We were approached by the development company to convert the area outside of the apartments into a car park to serve the residents. We advised the client on the design and specification and subsequently carried out a full refurbishment package. The client was delighted with our professionalism and quality of work. As a result, we have since carried out further works for this new client."

"The project we completed for Burford school springs to mind, a contract we completed recently where we saw an opportunity to reuse materials that were already on site. There was an old concrete floor base and some other concrete hard standings located in the area for the new car park build. We designed and built a new car park and recycled all the concrete from these old bases using a specialist crushing machine. The recycled materials were used in the base for the new car park. This innovative approach reduced the project's carbon footprint by considerably reducing HGV deliveries to and from site.
We continually re-use all road materials that are planed off existing tarmac surfaces for further subbase works and in addition TARMAC plants are now recycling planings for new tarmac materials.
Tarmac suppliers also use recycled tyres in some of their proprietary special mixes.
Many suppliers are now replacing concrete materials with composite materials. This is mainly in the concrete kerbing range, and the design and appearance of the composite kerbs is such that the average person would not be able to tell the difference! They have been engineered to the same durability as normal kerbs but are able to be installed at a far quicker rate, reducing time and energy. The kerbs are made from recycled plastics and so by reducing waste arisings."

"Onwards and upwards because our business is growing! We have increased turnover by 35% in the last year already. We are continually increasing the size of our department and have recently employed 4 more trained site operatives. With our healthy order book, and the prospect of further major projects this year, we anticipate a further increase on our turnover of more than 50 % by December 2023. An improvement to be proud of! We have recently taken delivery of a new specialist paver and are in the process of adding more machines to our fleet giving us more opportunity to do carry out varied work. We are moving from strength to strength."

"We are very professional in what we offer but we are also realistic as to what is the best product for our clients. We're good at listening to our clients requests and requirements, and we enjoy finding solutions that will meet their criteria in a cost effective but high-quality way. You will not hear normal 'sales patter' from our team! We are professionals who consistantly back up our their words and this is the key to us being successful."

"Well, if you don’t have a good reputation, you don’t get any more work! Reputation is everything!! Slatter Estates Surfaces is relatively new brand we are promoting, although we have been designing and building car parks and roads and supporting the sports division for many years. Now is the right time to establish ourselves in our own right with all that we can offer. We have a long list of testimonials from satisfied customers and have already developed a reputation for our quality, reliability, and diversity of work. As a company logo says, “Constructed with integrity.”