IN Brief:
- McCoy Contractors has purchased an MCM-60 mobile concrete batching plant.
- The investment follows a Doncaster project where on-site batching produced more than 26,000m³ of concrete.
- The approach removed about 3,250 ready-mix truck deliveries and an estimated 65,000 vehicle miles.
McCoy Contractors has purchased an MCM-60 mobile concrete batching plant after using on-site concrete production on a large distribution project in Doncaster.
The contractor said the investment will improve efficiency, reduce reliance on off-site ready-mix supply, and support lower-carbon delivery across future projects.
The MCM-60 plant is designed to produce concrete directly on site. It includes a 1.67m³ BHS Sonthofen twin-shaft mixer, four aggregate storage compartments with a combined capacity of 20m³, a fully integrated Command Alkon control system, metered water and admixture systems, a 4,500-litre water tank, an 850kg cement weighing hopper, and an integrated batching cabin.
McCoy used on-site batching during delivery of a major distribution facility in Doncaster, producing more than 26,000m³ of concrete. The company said the approach removed around 3,250 ready-mix truck deliveries and cut an estimated 65,000 vehicle miles.
The plant will allow concrete to be produced as required, giving project teams more control around weather, programme changes, pour sequencing, and site conditions. Managing director Chris Haughey said the Doncaster deployment had demonstrated both operational and carbon benefits.
Mobile batching is not a new concept, but its appeal is increasing as contractors re-examine logistics, emissions, material availability, and programme resilience. Ready-mix supply remains essential across the sector, although high-volume schemes can be exposed to traffic delays, batching plant availability, delivery windows, discharge times, and the management of large numbers of truck movements.
Producing concrete on site changes that logistics model. Aggregates, cement, admixtures, and water still need to be delivered, but final batching happens closer to the point of use. That can reduce pressure on site gates, local roads, washout arrangements, and delivery coordination, particularly where pours are large or frequent.
The approach can also improve responsiveness. Weather delays, design changes, workface availability, and sequencing changes are easier to manage when the contractor controls production more directly. For distribution, industrial, civils, and infrastructure schemes with high concrete volumes, that control can support programme certainty as well as transport reduction.
Quality control remains the decisive factor. Concrete production cannot become a convenience activity detached from specification, testing, and record keeping. Mix consistency, batching accuracy, aggregate moisture, admixture dosing, plant maintenance, cube testing, and compliance documentation all have to be managed properly if on-site batching is to meet project requirements.
The inclusion of integrated control systems and metered water and admixture dosing is therefore central to the plant’s value. Contractors using mobile batching need evidence that concrete performance is repeatable, traceable, and aligned with the designer’s specification. Without that, any logistics gain would be offset by quality and compliance risk.
The carbon benefit also depends on more than truck mileage. Cutting ready-mix vehicle movements can reduce transport emissions, congestion, and local disturbance, but embodied carbon in concrete remains heavily influenced by cement content and mix design. On-site batching can give contractors more control over waste and production timing, while lower-carbon outcomes will still rely on cement replacement, admixture strategy, aggregate sourcing, and accurate batching.
That places the investment within a broader shift in concrete delivery. Demand-side programmes are starting to support next-generation lower-carbon mixes, while design tools are allowing teams to compare embodied carbon earlier. Mobile batching can complement those changes where it improves control, reduces waste, and allows contractors to match production more closely to site need.
Plant investment is increasingly being assessed against productivity, carbon, and risk together. The same pattern is visible across machine control, intelligent earthmoving, electric plant, and site data systems, where equipment choices are being used to reduce rework, improve accuracy, and tighten delivery control. Recent deployment of intelligent excavator systems in Britain sits within the same broader move towards more controlled site production.
For McCoy, the Doncaster results provide a measurable basis for the purchase. Removing thousands of ready-mix truck movements and tens of thousands of road miles is a material change in site logistics. The next stage will be applying that model consistently across future schemes where concrete volume, site layout, quality control, and programme requirements make mobile batching commercially and operationally worthwhile.
