them the largest fleet user of some fifteen EC700 and EC750 excavators in the country.
But even with this amount of kit, whether on-site or on
order, Collins has had to look elsewhere to hire in additional trucks and excavators. “We will hire in Volvo equipment simply because we know what we’re getting,” says David. “Residual value is one thing and is always positive, but it’s the overall reliability and performance of the machines and – this isn’t an overstatement – all our operators prefer sitting in a Volvo as opposed to anything else. We took delivery of the very first EC750E to be delivered in Great Britain – that machine has since clocked up 4,000 hours in its first two years and just hasn’t put a foot wrong.”
The East Midlands Gateway muck-shifting project began in early 2017 where Collins was initially engaged in preparing the perimeter of the 700-acre site for a rail freight terminal and container storage area adjacent to the A453 and the busy M1. This included a new junction on the A453 to give access to the Gateway site. Approximately 2.2 million cubic metres of material was moved in the first year. Now the race is on to carry out 15m of material cut-and-fill to a depth of 20m across the undulating site which will total close to another 4 million cubic metres. In addition to this, Collins is still working on preparing the ground for the spur line to service the rail freight terminal and is currently working on the realignment of the A50 / M1 junction.
In total, there will be eleven ‘big box’ facilities built on the East Midlands Gateway site, the largest of which will have a warehouse capacity of a mighty 1 million square feet, the
smallest being 250,000 square feet in size. Already companies such as Amazon and Nestle (to name but two) have staked a claim on these plots. “We’re really encouraged by this,” says David. “But if you think about where we are – the dead-centre of England with prime logistic connections either by road, rail and even air – it’s probably no surprise this is going to be a win-win situation for all of those involved in the development.”
Even with the magnitude of this and other projects the company is busy tendering for, David Collins remains pretty calm and even modest about his company’s continuing good fortune. “We have a pretty loyal workforce of nearly 350 personnel and a very low turnover of staff, and it’s like everything else in this world – if you look after what you’ve got then the favour is invariably returned. It helps that the Gateway project is close to our headquarters which means everyone can get home of an evening and is not having to work away – this has helped the project greatly.” Daily shifts are nevertheless long ones, starting at 7am – 7.30pm weekdays and 7am – 4pm Saturdays. One employee stands out in his timeliness and devotion to what he does, setting an example for all of his colleagues: 76-year old, Barry Northedge. Barry has been with Collins Earthworks for the last 15 years and has always been allocated the newest articulated hauler purchased for the fleet and recently took charge of one of the two new A60Hs.
Barry told us he started in the muck-shifting business 57 years ago for companies around the Chesterfield area where he still lives. “I’ve seen a lot of companies come and go
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
