Our founder and managing director, Bruce Spencer-Knott, looks back on a very successful year for Minster Group which paves the way for an exciting 2020

2019 was a great year for Minster Group and it certainly saw us all working hard to ensure roads across the country are in tip-top condition.

One of the biggest projects we were involved with in 2019, and continue to work on in 2020, is the Lincoln Eastern Bypass. This project is an enormous undertaking which will improve journeys for thousands of people going in, out and around Lincoln every day. Even throughout the winter months the work keeps going and we’ve been getting stuck-in helping to bring this enormous project closer to completion. 

Our teams have been involved in enabling works, installing drainage and reinstatement work, as well as helping with the construction of new roundabouts and creating the new road surfaces. And of course, we’ve been laying plenty of asphalt! Working hard day and night, and also at weekends, means that the public will be able to drive over what will be a smooth, brand new road in 2020.

And it’s not only cars that will be making use of the Lincoln Eastern Bypass. As well as creating road surfaces we’re also creating a brand new cycle path alongside the bypass. The cycle path will run along the whole length of the bypass, enabling cyclists to make use of the new route whilst still being safe. 

Celebrating 20 years

2019 was also an exciting year for us as we celebrated our 20th anniversary. We’ve come a long way in two decades and to reflect that, we launched our new brand; Minster Group.

Since we launched in 1999, we’ve grown to become a major nationwide contractor, using technology to offer safer, cleaner and greener civil engineering services. Our rebrand reflects this, and also celebrates our 20 years of passion, dedication and innovation.

Award wins

2019 was a great year for Minster Group on the award front too, with us winning three fantastic local and national awards. One of these was the MoD Employer Recognition Scheme Silver Award from the Armed Forces Covenant. Being recognised as a business that supports the Armed Forces community in the world of work is a great achievement, especially as we’re based in “Bomber County” and work closely with the Ministry of  Defence.

I was also delighted and extremely humbled to be named Director of the Year for Innovation at 2019’s Institute of Directors East Midlands Awards. Despite it being my name on the trophy, it was a big achievement for the whole Minster team. We work very hard to carry out our work in a safe and environmentally friendly way, so it truly was an honour to be recognised for our efforts. 

We were also awarded on a national level for our commitment to recycling and green technology at the BusinessGreen Leaders Awards 2019. These are one of the most prestigious green awards in the country so to be awarded Circular Economy Project of the Year was a major achievement. We were up against some really impressive companies and it was inspiring to see so many green innovations across a wide range of sectors. Additionally, we also had the honour of being featured in The Parliamentary Review in the autumn, as a Best Practice Representative.

Inspiring innovation

Because innovation never stops, each year we invest heavily in the research, development and acquisition of new technologies which help us to make road surfacing and civil engineering smarter, cleaner and greener. Last year saw some of our biggest investments into new ways of working yet, as we explore new processes which could transform the industry.

Currently, we use Foambase technology to recycle 50% of the material we remove from the roads we repair, but in 2020 we hope to increase this to 90%. We’re working hard to develop new systems that would significantly reduce the carbon footprint of road surfacing work. Reducing reliance on quarries, preventing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of material from going to waste and reducing the distance that materials have to be transported is our ultimate aim. 

Looking forward, Minster Group has a lot to be excited about for 2020 and I can’t wait to see what we can achieve in the next 20 years.