Centriforce Brings 50 Years of Underground Infrastructure Protection to the U.S. Market
A Liverpool-based (UK) manufacturer that has spent half a century protecting the cables, pipes and networks that power, connect and sustain communities across Europe and is now turning its attention to America – arriving with a product range and a track record that is unmatched.
Centriforce Products Ltd. has entered the U.S. market. The manufacturer, which has supplied the U.K.’s utilities, civil engineering and infrastructure sectors with recycled plastic damage prevention products for 50 years, is bringing its full product range to American contractors, network operators and infrastructure developers, backed by five decades of performance data from some of the most demanding underground infrastructure environments in the world.
The company’s decision to target North America is driven by a recognition that the U.S. utility market is in need of a more cost effective, robust and sustainable solution for protecting underground infrastructure. Across the United States, aging utility infrastructure carries water, electricity, natural gas and telecommunications to hundreds of millions of people. That infrastructure is being extended, upgraded and replaced at the fastest rate in a generation, driven by a rising population, data centers, AI, electric cars and an aging network. At every step of the process, the question of how to protect underground assets from accidental strike during excavation, and how to mark them accurately for the future, is a question that Centriforce’s products are designed to answer.
The company’s arrival in the US market is not that of a start-up seeking to establish itself, or just an idea. Centriforce enters America as the U.K. market leader in its category – the supplier of choice for the utility and civil engineering contractors who maintain and build the networks of National Grid, DNOs (distribution network operators), the major regional water companies, and the telecommunications infrastructure operators that serve the United Kingdom. Its ISO-accredited products have been independently tested, embedded in specifications and continuously refined across 50 years of real-world underground infrastructure applications. The performance record that the U.S. utility industry requires already exists in mainland Europe.
The U.K. offers the U.S. a genuine benchmark. U.K. specification calls for cable protection boards approximately 10 mm thick to protect its high voltage cables – some five to six times thicker than the 2 mm (or thinner) products still common in other parts of the world. The result: the U.K. records close to zero utility-strike deaths a year and is generally regarded as the world leader in protection of underground utilities
“Utilities face a key decision with utility protection: invest now or pay the price later,” says Centriforce CEO, Jonathan Pearce. “My mission as CEO of Centriforce is to help energy leaders think through the full lifecycle of these assets – not just how to build the network, but how to keep it standing. That means well-planned, well-protected underground projects, robust specification that isn’t sacrificed to short-term cost pressure, and closer coordination across the country as the U.S. builds for the future, it protects what it has already invested to get there.”
Eric McDermott, Vice President of Sales North America, Centriforce , added: “We’ve identified a real need in the US utility sector for a new range of products for protecting underground utilities. Traditional methods such as concrete encasement, steel plates and aboveground markers have many issues in regards to cost, the environment and performance. Our range of products meet a growing need to look for viable alternatives which are fit for purpose, cost effective and sustainable in the future.”
All of Centriforce’s core products are manufactured from 100% recycled plastic – principally HDPE and LDPE recovered from packaging film, plastic bottles and carrier bags. At a time when U.S. federal procurement is increasingly directed towards low-carbon and recycled-content materials, and when major infrastructure contractors are under growing pressure from institutional investors and project owners to demonstrate supply chain sustainability credentials, Centriforce’s manufacturing model is the ideal solution.
CENTRIFORCE PRODUCT RANGE — US APPLICATIONS
Stokbord® Heavy duty mechanical protection. Recycled plastic utility protection covers and sheets — protecting buried electricity, gas, water and telecoms assets from excavation strike. U.K. standard-specification for major network operators. Available in both cover and roll format. Locata® Detectable underground warning systems — tapes, mesh, marker posts, signs and barrier tape with metallic core for precise cable-detection location. Standard in UK no-dig and open-cut utility work. Tapetile® Robust and non-tear alternative to traditional warning tape. Flexible cable protection rolls for direct lay and ducted installations — lightweight, durable, recyclable alternative to concrete and clay cable covers.
Centriforce’s U.S. market entry forms part of the company’s Force of 50 international expansion program, launched in its 50th anniversary year. Distributors, contractors and procurement leads in the utility, civil engineering and construction sectors are invited to make initial contact through www.centriforce.com.
Distributors and procurement leads in target markets are invited to contact Centriforce directly via www.centriforce.com.
