UK: Hanson has appointed Rick Green as the managing director of its Leicestershire-based asphalt and quarrying business MQP (Midland Quarry Products). He moves from his role as managing director of Hanson Contracting to replace Dave Bagshaw, who has retired after 39 years in the industry. Green has also been chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) since 2017. The AIA was established in 2000 and is a partnership between the Mineral Products Association (MPA) and Eurobitume UK.

MQP consists of three quarries and 10 asphalt plants located across the Midlands. It was operated as a joint venture with Tarmac until 2013, when Hanson wholly acquired the company.

Zambia: The majority government-owned Zambia Consolidated Copper Mine (ZCCM) Investment Holdings has appointed Mabvuto Chipata its chair. ZCCM’s cement division faces the challenge of national overcapacity due to market saturation as it moves ahead with the US$600m construction of a 1.6Mt/yr integrated cement plant and 57MW power station in Masaiti, Copperbelt province. Thierry Charles, speaking on behalf of the Euronext minority shareholders, expressed relief at ‘the definitive turning of a page on several years of hazardous, inconsistent and disastrous investments.’

Ireland: CRH has appointed Richard Boucher as its chairman designate. He will succeed the present chairman, Nicky Hartery, on 1 January 2020. Hartery, who has been chairman since May 2012 and a board member since 2004, will retire as chairman and from the board at the end of 2019.

Boucher, aged 61 years, joined the board of CRH in March 2018 and has been chairman of CRH’s Remuneration Committee since September 2018. He was chief executive of Bank of Ireland Group from 2009 to 2017. He also held a number of key senior management roles within Bank of Ireland, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank. He is a nonexecutive Director of Kennedy Wilson Holdings and Eurobank Ergasias.

UAE: The board of Sharjah Cement and Industrial Development elected Othman Mohammed Sharif Abdullah as its new chairman at a meeting on 12 October 2019. Mubasher has reported that the company, which is based in the UAE, and also listed in Kuwait, also appointed Salah Abdulla Al Noman to its board.