COLE GROUNDWORKS CONTRACTS LIMITED

As a multi award winning civil engineering company working all over Ireland and the UK providing services to some of the biggest construction companies in the world, Cole Groundworks Contracts, based outside Newry in County Down, continues to invest in its people and its plant. Adopting a steady and measured growth strategy, the company, founded by Managing Director Conor Cole in 2005, has spent more than half a million pounds over the past year in new construction machinery and a fleet of works vehicles to service its expanding portfolio of ground works and civil engineering projects. Since its formation, the company has delivered a broad range of highly specialist projects in the residential and commercial markets, as well as in the education sector, in addition to working on electrical generation sites, telecommunications signals masts, and within the water industry, and is currently engaged in a number of new projects, among them an apartment block and retail units at Malahide in Dublin, as well as major works in Cork and Mullingar on behalf of Green Biofuels Ltd (GBF), the UK’s leading supplier of advanced renewable biofuel. Earlier this year, GBF opened Ireland’s first renewable biofuel terminal at Cork Harbour. The Port of Cork is the world’s second largest natural harbor and is a key international gateway for trade. The terminal represents a major commitment by GBF to Ireland’s cleaner energy infrastructure for transport and generator power, further accelerating the transition to Net Zero. The terminal, which will be fully operational shortly, will act as both an import facility to service the accelerating demand for GBF’s clean, advanced Gd+ HVO renewable fuel in Ireland, of which Conor Cole is a strong advocate, and a blending/ export facility to enable the collection and use of renewable fuels overseas. GBF will initially use 38 million litres of the overall capacity to supply Gd+ HVO fuel, which equates to a potential lifecycle CO2e emissions saving of over 100,000 tonnes on each tank refill cycle when compared to conventional diesel fuel. GBF plans to invest up to €20 million in the terminal and to increase the capacity to 53 million litres.

Cole GWC are Principle Contractor looking after the entire refurbishment of the facility, including new offices, complete new network of utilities for power, data, water and sewer, street lighting, improvement and extension to bund walls, flood gates, multiple interceptors, attenuation tanks, construction and makeup of new egress road from site to enable a one way system onsite, entire new concrete roads and parking facilities, security fencing, automated gates, CCTV and managing all aspects of upgrades to the existing tanks and pipework on the facility including all works on the jetty; this will be a modern state of the art industrial facility

Cole GWC also recently carried out upgrade works on behalf of GBF to an existing fuel distribution depot in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. The works involved an entire improvement of the existing facilities, including cut and fill within the entire perimeter, providing adequate falls to deal with surface water, and to protect the environment from any potential spills through forecourt and bypass interceptors along with all new drainage runs and a network for all utilities such as power and data, erect secure perimeter fencing, precast concrete kerbs, concrete bays with incorporated expansion joints, erect site lighting and CCTV and fully automated gates to control entry / exit to the facility.

Fuel Of Choice

GBF’s clean, advanced Gd+ HVO has rapidly become a sustainable and environmentally friendly fuel of choice for many in the construction, logistics and marine industries. Gd+ HVO is a fossilfree, paraffinic, renewable alternative to diesel made from Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) and GBF’s supply is low-carbon from waste collection to customer engine. Cole GWC was the first Irish company to be using this clean, advanced Gd+ HVO fuel in all its sites. “This is what we believe is a true revolution for air quality in our area of expertise, and an innovation that will help the entire construction industry,” says Conor. “We are passionate about being at the forefront of innovation.”

Gd+ HVO was first used by Cole GWC in 2019 when the company was brought in to work on an extremely large student accommodation project at Brighton University. As part of its environmental consciousness pledge, with the University looking to reduce its carbon footprint from the build and to improve the local air quality in the built-up area around the site, Cole GWC selected Gd+ for its high performance, low emission and drop-in replacement benefits. A true commitment from a company that was not contracturally obliged to do so.

Cole GWC monitored the CO2 emissions from the site and calculated the fuel economy during the works. The company has reported a 90% reduction in green house gas emissions, a NOx