Since 1978, we have operated under the name Oldcastle in North America, when our parent company CRH, made its first acquisition here.
CRH is headquartered in Ireland and has been around for almost 50 years. As one of the world’s leading names in our industry, CRH is recognized for excellence in building materials, known for operational and environmental performance, corporate social responsibility, innovative building solutions, and sustainable construction.
Our Name Has Changed, but Our Relationships Stay the Same
As we reflected on our success to-date and our ambitions for serving customers into the future, we realized that it was now time to adopt the CRH name here in North America too. While our Oldcastle name had served us well for four decades, such a name change was an opportunity to leverage our global scale and underline our credentials, both as a committed local business partner and also one that can draw on the collective capacity of a large global group.
I recently had the chance to talk with John Kemp, President of the Building Solutions team at CRH, about this name change and what it means to our customers.
“They can expect the same great local service,” John said. “They can expect more opportunities to engage with us at different levels.”
Four Decades of Forging Solutions
For the last 40 years, trust, quality, and friendly faces have been at the forefront of our businesses. As we build homes, schools, communities, and highways, it’s ultimately a down-to-earth, hardworking person that gets the job done. That commitment to building strong, local relationships isn’t changing – in fact it is one of the core principles by which all CRH companies around the world work.
“Our customers are asking us if we’ll still be here; can they still contact their local supplier,” John said. “The answer is yes. Our brands are a promise, and people do business with us because of the people.”
The strength, innovation, resources, and focus on safety – all under the one name CRH – will help meet these needs. We want to make it easier to work and collaborate with our colleagues, business partners, and customers around the world.
Leveraging Our Scale to Help Our Customers
By adopting the CRH name, we can bring our customers access to even more resources and know-how from around the world.
- Developers and owners still come to us for trusted relationships that will keep their projects on-budget and on-schedule.
- Architects come to us for our knowledge and custom solutions.
- General Contractors come to us for our network of subcontractors and product systems that make constructing a project more efficient.
- And, subcontractors can still find the materials and product experts they need.
Looking to the Future
By 2050, the world population will have grown by 2 billion, and 65 million people every year will moving to cities. Global growth will come from megacities, a majority of which will be in the developing world.
All of these cities, and the people living in them, will need factories and offices to work in, roads and bridges to travel on, homes to raise their families in, pipes to carry water, tunnels to support transport, and infrastructure for the technology and utilities to power it all.
Because of these needs, the opportunities for growth in construction are considerable. Our global footprint will help us to help our customers keep up with the growing demands of construction, wherever they’re building.
As we prepare to take on the challenges of the future – from labor shortages to the latest technologies – a focus on relationships, and the people behind our brands, will move the world forward. Check out our industry insights blog to see what trends, solutions, and more are happening in the industry.
