Coshla Quarries Ltd. in Athenry, has forged a stellar reputation for delivering quality concrete products since opening for business in October, 2007. They are regularly enlisted to supply materials to a host of key construction projects in the Galway region and are currently heavily involved in the Gort-Tuam Motorway. We caught up with Martin Collins to get an update.
When you’re good, you’re good…
During the eight years since its inception, Coshla Quarries Ltd. has become renowned for providing high-quality concrete products. From Day One, the County Galway company has been strongly associated with important road construction projects and this remains very much the case today.
Coshla announced itself as a major player by providing materials for the N6 (Galway-Dublin) dual carriageway – a major scheme which consisted of: 56km of dual carriageway between Galway and Ballinasloe; a 7km link to the Loughrea bypass; 32km of side roads; and five junctions. This significant project served as a perfect launching pad for Coshla Quarries, who extracted 2.6 million tonnes of limestone from their quarry between October, 2007 and October, 2009
They have become the partner of choice for major road projects in the Galway region. Today, Coshla is providing materials for the new €500m M17/M18 Gort-Tuam Motorway, a 53km project which commenced in January of this year.
The contract for this scheme was awarded by the National Roads Authority to the Public Private Partnership Direct Route (Tuam) Ltd., whose members include Roadbridge, Sisk, and Lagan Construction – three of Ireland’s largest civil engineering firms. It has been a real fillip for Coshla Quarries to be enlisted and this is representative of the ongoing progress being made by the Athenry-based concrete products specialist.
“There has been an upturn in business in recent months and things are going very well,” notes Martin Collins. “We are contracting Sisk with concrete and all the stone for the Gort-Tuam Motorway, which is the biggest project we’re working on at present. Even though the road itself started in January, we have been involved there since late 2014, initially on preparatory works.
“It’s a two-year project and we’re delighted to be involved. It’s certainly keeping us ticking over. We had 15 trucks on site there on one day alone, which gives you an idea of the scale of it. It’s a real vote of confidence in Coshla Quarries and it’s encouraging for us to know that – with the reputation we have developed and the quality of the quarry – we can attract that kind of work.”
Another major project that Coshla Quarries is currently contracted to is at University College Galway Hospital, where BAM is the main contractor.
“As you only have two-hour workability with the concrete, we tend to stay relatively close to home,” Martin adds. “Our catchment would be from Connemara to Galway city and into parts of East Galway – Monivea, Castlegar etc.”
Coshla Quarries provides all grades of concrete (including low-carbon), crushed rock and concrete blocks to a host of satisfied customers along the west coast and beyond. A limestone quarry situated on 70 acres at Cashla, Athenry, Coshla is a multi-skilled company which places a major emphasis on quality and excellence through every facet of the operation.
General manager Martin Collins is an expert in concrete design and he welcomes the challenge of coming up with specialist or bespoke solutions. To this end, Coshla prides itself on being able to provide customers with the exact products they require and is a veritable one-stop shop for all concrete products.
At present, a team of thirteen is employed but this figure goes up to around 30 when subcontractors are included, depending of course on the workload and orders at any given time. Fleet-wise, Coshla Quarries maintains a respectable presence on the road, operating a fleet of eight concrete trucks as well as up to six subcontracted concrete and block hauliers. “It all depends on the amount of product going out on any given day. We use subcontractors to keep our costs down.”
The in-house lorries are part of the Statcroft Transport & Civil Engineering Ltd. fleet. Statcroft is a Turloughmore-based company which is owned by Coshla Quarries director John Morris. It was formed in 1991 and has undertaken a large number of major roadwork, pipeline, bulk excavation, concrete, ducting and haulage contracts down through the years.
Plant in the actual quarry itself includes two primary crushers, two secondary crushers, one cone crusher and five screeners. New crushers and screeners have recently been added to the fleet and all the machines are regularly serviced and maintained in perfect running order at all times
All concrete blocks manufactured by Coshla Quarries carry the CE mark, while the concrete is also endorsed to EN206 standards. Furthermore, Coshla has full factory-control procedures in place for all blocks, aggregates and concrete, which ensures full traceability.
The team at Coshla pride themselves on being authorities on concrete and concrete technology. All the staff are well trained and regularly meet to discuss developments in the sector. An area that is becoming increasingly important is low-carbon concrete. Here, Coshla Quarries uses GGBS from Ecocem in its concrete as a way of reducing the carbon footprint. As well as improved workability, pumpability and compaction characteristics for concrete placement, GGBS also offers an array of other advantages including increased strength, reduced permeability, extended life cycle, virtually zero emissions, improved surface finish and lower costs.
Martin is extremely optimistic about the future of this progressive operation: “Sales are on the up and we are very confident. We offer a quality, certified product and we provide an excellent service.”
Is summer peak time? “It all depends really. The weather is important for some aspects of road construction but, generally speaking, most jobs can go through the winter.”
No order is too big or too small. “We supply everybody,” Martin confirms. “From the large contractor to the private individual, every customer is important. All the small quantities add up. A raft foundation for a house could take 100 metres of concrete but we will just as soon supply seven or eight metres – whatever they want.
“Things are looking very good for Coshla Quarries. Sales are up, turnover is up, and we haven’t been this busy in a couple of years. If things continue as they are, our turnover could be up by as much as 40% this year. Having said that, margins remain very tight and it’s an ongoing battle to keep costs down.
“This is a relatively-new quarry which was only opened in ’07 and we are pleased with how it has performed so far. There’s a good spin-off into the local economy as well, which we are proud of, and locals also have easy access to our products.”
Coshla Quarries has been a great success to date and there are clearly many more chapters to be written in this particular story.
Coshla Quarries,
Cashla,
Athenry,
County Galway.
Tel: 091 389020
Fax: 091 389021
Email: [email protected]
Taken from Building Ireland magazine Vol 1 No 1, Autumn 2015
