Lafarge Tarmac was the name of a United Kingdom building materials joint venture formed in 2013, when Anglo American’s Tarmac UK business merged with Lafarge’s UK operations.[1] The company operated under this identity for only a short period before Irish building materials group CRH acquired the business in 2015 and rebranded it as Tarmac.[2]
Design and History
The Lafarge Tarmac identity drew on two established British construction brands. The Tarmac name carried heritage from the former Anglo American business, while the visual mark incorporated the distinctive Blue Circle logo, a device associated with the cement brand that Lafarge had acquired in 2001.[3][4]
In April 2015, Lafarge Tarmac introduced updated packaging across its packed product range. The new design kept the familiar yellow base colour and placed the blue circle motif at its centre. Individual products were distinguished by their own colours, such as blue for Mastercrete, red for Postcrete and green for extra-rapid cement.[5]
The Lafarge Tarmac name was short-lived. Following CRH’s acquisition in August 2015, the business was relaunched as Tarmac. The new branding combined the Tarmac name with the Blue Circle logo, described at the time as drawing on the respective strengths of both brands.[2][3] The UK operation continues to use the Blue Circle logo and brand under the Tarmac name.[6]
Meaning and Symbolism
The Blue Circle logo itself has a documented history as a registered trademark. A UK trademark filed in 1984 for the device of a circle is limited to the colour blue as shown in the representation on the application form.[7] The mark was first used in cement marketing in 1966, when cement began to be sold under the Blue Circle brand.[4]
Beyond the documented colour restriction and the brand’s association with the Blue Circle cement business, no official source in the research establishes additional symbolic meaning for the circular form or the blue colour in the Lafarge Tarmac context.
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