Tarmac Group business was acquired by Anglo American later that year. In 2010, the group was separated into Tarmac Limited and Tarmac Building Products. Anglo American merged Tarmac Limited with the United Kingdom assets of Lafarge in 2013 to form a 50:50 joint venture, Lafarge Tarmac (now Tarmac Holdings). Tarmac Building Products was subsequently sold to Lafarge Tarmac in 2014. The company was originally formed by Edgar Purnell Hooley as the Tar Macadam (Purnell Hooley's Patent) Syndicate Limited in 1903. The distinguishing feature of the new process was that it "tarred" cheap blast furnace slag, a steelworks by-product, rather than expensive roadstone
The Fine Art of Surfacing In 2005, this album was re-released (it had previously been released but fell out of print quickly), digitally remastered by Bob Geldof and Pete Briquette with bonus tracks, mostly B-sides from various eras, that delve more deeply into the Rats' musical influences. All songs written by Bob Geldof unless otherwise indicated. Side A Album Singles The Fine Art of Surfacing The Fine Art of Surfacing was The Boomtown Rats' third album and contained the hit-single releases, "I Don't Like Mondays", "Diamond Smiles" and "Someone's Looking at You". The album peaked at No. 7 in the UK Albums Chart in 1979.