Fletchers ‘cutting-edge’ plant can produce enough concrete for 40 driveways every hour
Tuesday, 16 December 2025
Growing demand for more environmentally friendly concrete was the driver behind the opening of New Zealand’s newest and biggest ready-made concrete plant.
Firth Industries, one of Fletcher Building’s concrete businesses, announced on Tuesday that it was about to start production at the state-of-the-art plant in Auckland’s Penrose.
Once it ramped up to full capacity from February it would be able to produce up to 200 cubic metres of concrete an hour, the company said. That was enough concrete for 40 driveways every hour.
Firth Industries general manager Cameron Lee said the “cutting-edge facility” would enable the company to efficiently serve the needs of major construction and infrastructure projects.
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“We’re seeing a big demand for concrete in Auckland as the economy recovers. We’re now well-placed to fill that demand, and to deliver, at scale and sustainably.”
It would help Auckland to keep pace with the demand for housing, infrastructure, and commercial development, he said.
Firth Industries is part of Fletchers’ heavy building materials division, which also includes Winstone Aggregates, and Golden Bay Cement.
The businesses in the division span the concrete value chain from extraction to product manufacture, with 26 extractive sites and over 80 manufacturing plants around the country.
Fletcher Building’s Thornton Williams, who is chief executive of the heavy building materials division, said the new plant would be the biggest ready-made concrete facility in the country.
It had allowed the company to consolidate facilities and would add to its capacity, with two drive-through production lanes that could be in use at one time, he said.
“That allows us to service the requirements of the commercial and residential sectors at the same time and at a greater scale, which is a big step in terms of efficiency.”
But the plant was not just designed with volume in mind, it had a strong focus on reducing Firth’s impact on the environment, and sustainability was at the heart of the design, he said.
“It will be the central supplier for an innovative low-carbon concrete that reduces embodied carbon without compromising strength or performance, which allows builders and developers to meet their sustainability targets.
“It has increased capacity for the use of supplementary cementitious materials, such as slag and fly ash, and recycled concrete aggregates, which helps to reduce CO2 emissions.”
The plant also had a fully integrated, automated concrete reclaiming and wastewater system which enabled 100% reuse of wastewater, he said.
That meant high-volume production with even lower carbon and reduced waste to help drive growth in a circular economy.
“Decarbonising of concrete is a big topic for our sector, and demand for it is coming from asset owners who are clear they want a more sustainable material.”
Williams said the new plant had involved a consolidation of operations and employees from those operations would be moved to it, so at this stage it would not require new employees.
“The employment opportunities are for ready-made truck drivers. It has a carpark which fits up to 30 trucks, and we move them from plant to plant depending on the work flow.”
Stats NZ’s data on ready-made concrete showed volumes had been up quarter on quarter for the last quarters, although on an annual basis volumes were still down, he said.
“There are green shoots coming through for the sector, but it is still recovering.
“But we are excited about this factory, the benefits it will bring to our sustainability drive, and our business, and how it sets us up for the future.”
Planning for the new plant, which would be in play for 20 to 30 years, started about six years ago, and construction of it had taken nearly three years, he added.
Forsyth Barr analyst Rohan Koreman-Smit said the plant would help scale efficiency and improve volumes, which would be beneficial for the concrete business.
But as it was just one plant in the broader network it would not move Fletchers’ share price, he said.