One contractor from the first strip out to the finished build. Groundworks, demolition, drainage, structural concrete and construction, delivered to your engineer's drawing by a director who is on site and operating the machine.
Six core disciplines, sequenced as one job rather than six contracts.
Homeowners usually arrive through the driveways and patios pages, where the groundworks background shows most clearly. Architects, developers and main contractors usually arrive through concrete services and retaining walls.
Most of the jobs we are called to start with one of these. If you recognise yours, we can price it, plan it and put it right, from the first machine on site to the finished surface.
One contractor, one point of responsibilityStrip out through to finished build, with no handover gaps for the programme to fall into.
A director on site, operating the machineMatt led the St Ives retaining wall himself, as director and machine operator. The person who priced your job is the person running it.
Built to the engineer's drawingReinforced concrete, stepped foundations, attenuation and piling, delivered under external structural engineers' direction and to architects' detail.
23 years across every trade in the sequenceMason by trade, then working foreman, then site manager across groundworks and demolition. There is no part of the job Matt has not done with his own hands.
£5m public liability, including groundworks and demolition up to 15 metresMost public liability policies exclude demolition outright. This one does not.
A specialist network built over 15 yearsMasonry contractors, groundworkers, drainage specialists and propping trades that Matt has worked alongside for fifteen years, brought in by name for the part of the job they are best at.
Most delays on a Cornish site do not happen while the work is being done. They happen in the gaps between trades.
The demolition contractor leaves something in the ground that was not in their scope. The groundworker turns up, cannot start, and puts his gang somewhere else for a fortnight. The concrete follows the groundworks, so that slips too, and a programme that was tight in March is three weeks adrift by June. Nobody did a bad job. The job simply changed hands four times.
Cornwall Civils & Construction is built to remove those handovers. Strip out, demolition and site clearance, then groundworks, then drainage, then structural concrete, then the build itself, all under one contractor with one point of responsibility. The sequence is planned once, by the person who will be running the machine.
Matt Richards has spent 23 years in construction, from mason to working foreman to site manager, and now runs the company as its director. His stated commitment is simple: keep the project moving from start to finish, on time and on budget.
A cliffside property restored on 65 piles, with ground beams, columns and a soffit slab carrying its own drainage. Every load, every material and every pour reached the work down an access route that would take nothing bigger than a one ton dumper.
A cliffside property restored on 65 piles, with ground beams, columns and a soffit slab carrying its own drainage.
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Concrete work delivered on a Grade II listed 1930s seawater lido, in marine grade concrete and rapid set concrete, scheduled around low tide windows.
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A tight, stepped hillside above a new build and a renovated property, held by 45 linear metres of 250mm reinforced concrete.
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A private coastal residence on a geologically complex cliff site, where the ground changed as the land fell away.
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50 metres of dry stone Cornish hedge rebuilt in three weeks after Storm Goretti brought an ancient tree down through the bank.
View Project DetailsReal footage from real jobs, filmed on site by Matt and the team.
Our Google reviews are public, and they are worth more than anything we could write here.
Based on 5 Google reviews
Great company to work with. Professional, reliable and well organised from start to finish. Communication is always clear, sites are well run & the team are a pleasure to deal with. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them and look forward to working together again!
Read more on GoogleCornwall Civils have been working on a complex external works package for our project in St Ives. Their works have included an extensive concrete retaining wall, in-situ concrete stairs and an in-ground modular drainage system.
Read more on GoogleCornwall Civils handled a tricky concrete shuttering, steel work, and pour for us on an emergency job. They stepped in at very short notice and worked through nights and weekends to get it done. The quality of their work was excellent, and their commitment was outstanding.
Read more on GoogleI recently had the pleasure of working with Matry at Cornwall Civils and Construction, and I couldn’t be more impressed with the service provided.
Read more on GoogleOne further five-star rating was left on Google without a written review.
Cornwall Civils & Construction works out of Newlyn and covers west Cornwall, from the Penwith peninsula through to Falmouth.
We work regularly in St Ives, Newlyn, Hayle, Marazion, St Just, Camborne and Redruth, Helston and Falmouth, along with Penzance itself, Mousehole, Sennen, Porthcurno, Praa Sands, Portreath, Penryn and the villages between them.
Sites further east are taken on their merits. If you are outside the towns listed, call and ask.
West Cornwall does not give you an easy site. Granite and Blue Elvan come up shallow and hard, so an excavation priced on soft ground stops dead at base level. Coastal exposure and salt air change the concrete spec. Sites run up hillsides, which means stepped foundations and shutters cut to fit rather than pulled off a rack. Winter rain arrives early and stays, so drainage and attenuation are designed before the first dig, not retrofitted after the first storm.
Cornwall Civils & Construction works from Newlyn, minutes from Penzance harbour, and every one of those conditions has been priced, dug and poured here rather than read about.
Matt started in construction at 17 and has 23 years behind him. Mason by trade, then working foreman, then site manager across groundworks and demolition for other contractors, before founding Cornwall Civils & Construction, now going into its third year. He assisted on Jubilee Pool in Penzance, carried out a cliffside structural restoration on 65 piles, and led the St Ives retaining wall as director and machine operator.
Trades we pass work to, and take work from, across Cornwall. If a job needs a specialist we do not cover, it goes to someone on this list.
Our free guide walks through the surfaces that stand up to Cornish weather, what sits underneath them, and the drainage questions to ask before anyone quotes. Pop your name and email in and it opens straight away.
Send us the drawings, the postcode and the stage the site is at, and we will come and look at it. One contractor, from the first strip out to the finished build.
Call Matt Richards on 07958 102538 · Get a free quote online
14 The Strand, Newlyn, Penzance, TR18 5HN
Phone: 07958 102538
Email: info@cornwallcivilsandconstruction.co.uk
Hours: Mon to Fri 07:00 to 17:00 · Sat 08:00 to 12:00
Sunday: emergency call out only
