Martin Marietta Materials acquires Georgia, Tennessee aggregate operations

Martin Marietta Materials Inc. recently announced the acquisition of six quarry locations in Georgia and Tennessee from Vulcan Materials Co. Subject to normal closing adjustments related to working capital, the cash and asset exchange transaction was completed as part of the Department of Justice’s Consent Order requiring Vulcan to divest of certain facilities following its acquisition of Florida Rock Industries Inc.

Of the six locations acquired by Martin Marietta Materials, the five Georgia sites comprise three active and one greenfield granite operation located near Atlanta in Paulding, Fayette, Fulton and Butts counties, respectively, as well as a limestone operation in Floyd County near Rome. The sixth location is a limestone operation in Chattanooga, Tenn.

As part of the transaction, Martin Marietta Materials also acquired a land parcel previously leased from Vulcan at Martin Marietta Materials’ Three Rivers Quarry near Paducah, Ky. For the 12 months ended Dec. 31, the newly acquired Martin Marietta Materials locations shipped nearly 4.5 million tons of aggregates. Aggregate reserves exceed 300 million tons.

In addition to a $192 million cash payment, Martin Marietta Materials divested to Vulcan its only California quarry located in Oroville, an idle facility north of San Antonio, Texas, and land in Henderson, N.C., formerly leased to Vulcan.

These newly acquired facilities significantly expand the presence of Martin Marietta Materials in high-growth areas of Georgia and Tennessee, particularly south and west of Atlanta.

Asphalt roofing manufacturers gather at Oak Ridge for Spring meetings and lab tour

The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association [ARMA] held its 2008 Spring Meeting Series in Oak Ridge, Tenn., from March 25-27. Meetings on the first day were hosted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

ARMA hosted a variety of expert speakers in the field of roofing and energy efficiency: Chris Salazar, vice president of sales and marketing at Karnak and immediate past president, of the Roof Coatings Manufacturers Association, who spoke on “Cooling and Sustaining Asphalt Roofs with Coatings;” Stephanie Stern of the Cool Roof Rating Council, who discussed the emerging research regarding reflectivity as it relates to asphalt shingles; Dr. William Miller, a senior research engineer with the Building Envelopes Program at ORNL, delivered a presentation on “Energy Savings in Steep Slope Roofing using above Sheath Ventilation;” and Dr. James Hoff, executive director, Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing, speaking on Life-Cycle Assessment and the LEED Green Building Rating System.

The staff of the Building Envelopes Program (BEP) of the Building Technology Center (BTC) at ORNL conducted tours of ongoing low-slope and steep-slope roofing experiments. Additionally, ARMA members were shown the test chambers used for current research on the thermal performance of the exterior envelopes of buildings.

Nashville mayor’s office explains non-discrimination ordinance to AGC members

On April 1 Associated General Contractors, Middle Tennessee Branch, held its monthly membership meeting at Richland Country Club. Several employees with the mayor’s office were present. The purpose of this meeting was to review details of the mayor’s non-discrimination ordinance, which passed at its third reading last night.

Toby Compton, legislative director for Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, reviewed the disparity study with the contractors. Michelle Wayne then reviewed the ordinance and how it will affect contractors, including the scope of this program, bid requirements, good faith efforts, benchmarks, evaluations of bids for program compliance, sanctions and penalties and goals.

AGC is the largest and oldest national construction trade association in the United States. AGC represents more than 32,000 firms, including 7,000 of America’s leading general contractors, and more than 11,000 specialty-contracting firms. More than 13,000 service providers and suppliers are associated with AGC through a nationwide network of chapters. Visit the AGC Web site at www.tnagc.org. AGC members are “Building Your Quality of Life.”

R. J. Griffin & Co, relocates Tennessee office

National general contractor Dunn Southeast d.b.a. R. J. Griffin & Company is relocating its Tennessee office in Nashville to larger office space at 12 Cadillac Drive, #100, Brentwood, Tenn., 37027, effective April 28.

Phone and fax numbers remain the same.