Pavermodule Shapes Hanson’s Landscape-Unit Platform

Hanson Building Products North America entered the concrete paving stone and landscape unit business last month, announcing acquisition of five plants

CP STAFF

Hanson Building Products North America entered the concrete paving stone and landscape unit business last month, announcing acquisition of five plants (three sites), two showrooms and related assets of PaverModule. The Pompano Beach, Fla.-based operator is one of the Sunshine State’s top players in pavers and retaining wall units, logging 2005 output equivalent to 35 million square feet of product. PaverModule is a successful business operating in a strong market, and is an excellent fit, notes Hanson Building Products North America CEO Richard Manning. Based in Dallas, he will oversee the new business, Hanson Paver Products Inc., along with established Brick and Pipe & Products franchises.

Terms of the PaverModule deal were not disclosed. Hanson acquired the assets from an employee stock ownership plan and principals Guy Gravel, who is retiring, plus Rick Chatellier and Charlie Parks, who have been retained to run the operation and will report to Manning. The paver and landscape unit business complements sister concrete pipe, precast and roof tile operations in Florida, a state Hanson views among the most attractive for medium-term demand based on favorable population trends. The PaverModule deal includes properties in Pompano Beach (two machines), Lehigh Lakes (two machines) and Haines City (one machine, with second installation under way), plus Naples and Sarasota show rooms.

Hanson Pipe & Products staked its claim in Florida with the 2000 acquisition of six-plant Joelson Taylor Concrete Products, Green Cove Springs. Hanson had inherited three concrete roof tile plants in Florida earlier that year after taking over Pioneer USA, and has since added a fourth property.

The sale of PaverModule is the latest transaction reshaping Florida’s concrete landscape unit capacity. Market leader Oldcastle Architectural acquired Matt Stone, Tampa, two years ago, and also has a stake in West Palm Beach-based Paver Systems. Two paver plants (Krehling and Ewell) within the former RMC Industries have been integrated, along with major ready mixed and block operations, into Cemex, which acquired RMC in March 2005.