From cold asphalt to low-carbon materials and a new generation of high-visibility workwear, Red Stag Materials founder Grant Shewan discusses the homegrown success of his business and its commitment to using practical innovation to make our industry safer, more productive and more sustainable.
From a 14-person team headquartered in Scotland, Red Stag Materials has built a UK-wide customer base by asking a simple question: is there a better way to do the job?
I founded the company in 2018 because I wanted to bring innovative, alternative products to the UK infrastructure market, with a focus on highways maintenance.
Eight years on, our range has expanded into bitumen and emulsions, crack and joint repair systems, thermoplastics and line marking materials, anti-skid products, cutting and compaction equipment, traffic products, even PPE and other consumables.
We have never wanted to be just another catalogue supplier. Our approach is to look at how a job is being carried out and ask whether there is a safer, quicker, more sustainable or more cost-effective way of doing it.
That philosophy is perhaps best illustrated by EZ Street Asphalt, the polymer-modified cold asphalt product that helped establish Red Stag in the UK market. When Red Stag introduced the technology, cold asphalt was still widely associated with temporary repairs. The task was not simply to sell a product, but to challenge that perception and demonstrate that a modern cold-applied material could form part of a permanent repair strategy. Red Stag subsequently developed UK manufacturing of EZ Street.
However, we are not tied to one technology or one repair methodology. Contractors come to us with a problem, and we suggest practical options. Sometimes innovation is a completely new material. Sometimes it is simply finding a better way of carrying out an everyday task.
Small team, worldwide impact
Our small agile team allows us to stay close to customers and make decisions quickly. We want to retain that entrepreneurial culture as we grow. Over the next five years, the ambition is to establish Red Stag as an increasingly recognised national specialist supplier to the highways and utilities sectors. Although UK growth remains the priority, the company is also seeing increasing interest from overseas markets.
We believe we can add value to every size of contractor. The scale may be different, but everyone is looking for ways to improve productivity, safety, sustainability and value.
Sustainability will play a significant role in that strategy. Red Stag is examining how the carbon impact of existing products can be reduced through raw materials, manufacturing, packaging, transport and product performance, while simultaneously working on new lower-carbon technologies.
We have to be realistic about the challenge we face as we seek to deliver on national carbon objectives, while operating under significant financial pressure. On top of this, bigger and heavier vehicles, freight demand and ageing infrastructure put further pressure on road surfaces. So we will continue to invest in products that can combine lower environmental impact with practical performance and commercial viability by extending asset life and reducing repeat intervention.
Rethinking high-visibility workwear
That willingness to reconsider established products has now taken Red Stag into high-visibility clothing, with a new range being formally launched at an industry event in Birmingham in October.
Our view is that an operative working outdoors in winter should be capable of being just as productive as they are in summer. If somebody is cold, wet or wearing clothing that does not breathe properly, it affects how comfortably and effectively they can work.
Red Stag has focused on high-quality breathable and waterproof garments, including GORE-TEX lines. Premium workwear should be viewed as an investment in productivity and staff retention rather than purely as a procurement cost.
Giving people genuinely good equipment also says something about how much the business values them. You want people to feel that their employer has invested in giving them the best equipment to do their job.
The headline innovation within the range is SunSafe technology. Incorporated into the garments, the indicator provides a simple visual signal of deterioration in the fluorescent material. It displays "SunSafe" while the garment remains suitable for high-visibility use and changes to "UnSafe" when it should no longer be relied upon for its intended fluorescent performance.
Red Stag is the first business to bring the technology in its garment range to the UK and the first to introduce it specifically to the highways sector – particularly relevant in an industry where operatives can spend almost their entire working day outdoors.
The company is also introducing Light Source Emblem personalisation for organisations with employees working at night. Rather than a contractor's logo providing identification alone, the phosphorescent technology allows the emblem itself to emit light.
It charges in around five minutes of natural light or ten minutes of artificial light, can provide up to eight hours of glow and incorporates glass beads for retro-reflective performance.
Hitting the road
I have always felt this is a fantastic sector to work in and for – fast-paced and full of excellent people. If I could change one thing, it would be some of the red tape. Standards and regulation are essential where safety is concerned, but unnecessary bureaucracy can add cost, slow down decisions and make innovation harder to introduce.
Sometimes the best ideas come from taking something people use every day, looking closely at the frustrations or risks around it and asking how it can be improved.
Whether it is asphalt, a road repair material or the jacket somebody wears while working on the network, that is what we want Red Stag to be known for: practical innovation that makes the job safer, more productive and more sustainable.
