FM Conway - Going the Extra Mile

Going the Extra Mile

A But for me and for the company, it wasn’t really the end of anything at all; it was a new beginning, the opening of a new door in our history.

nd so in 2011, when we arrived at our 50 th Anniversary, there was an enormous amount to celebrate. We had continued to grow at the most astonishing rate, doubling our turnover in the last five years to around £130 million. The proudest moment for me, however, was the official opening of the Erith Asphalt Plant and the new Thames-side Conway Wharf and Jetty on November 25 th . We had around two hundred guests that day, including Bernd Benninghoven, the MD of the company that had manufactured the Asphalt Plant, and Angela Yeoman who had run Foster Yeoman with her son John until they finally sold the business in 2006. Sometimes I refer to the new Asphalt Plant as the ‘culmination of a dream’, but that gives the wrong impression, because it makes it sound like the end of something. Of course, for the many people who had worked so hard to make that day possible, it was the end of a long, hard job that they had done well. But for me and for the company, it wasn’t really the end of anything at all; it was a new beginning, the opening of a new door in our history. And it’s only now that I’m beginning to realise the huge strategic importance of the Wharf and Jetty. We are planning to receive around 250,000 tonnes of materials at the Wharf annually, which will not only save 15,000 lorry journeys, but it will also add a whole new dimension to our transport and access systems. Paul Bullock (who worked on the technical aspects of the Asphalt Plant, and who shares with me a fondness for ‘transport toys’) gave me a Lego-style Conway ship, which I kept under my desk, unmade. I didn’t dare put it together until the Wharf was actually completed – and then I spent a happy hour in my office putting all the pieces together. I’m that kind of person. But then I got back to work. The London Olympic Games were

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