An HP 12000 stars in a sustainable quarry in the UK

8 July 2025

Being chosen by a major construction company is a source of great pride for Indeco. Even more so if the company in question has a modern, forward-looking vision like Collins Earthworks, a benchmark for construction, demolition and engineering in the UK which boasts impressive experience in the handling of some of the biggest and most challenging earth-moving projects in the country. Over the years, the company has expanded its expertise into a wide variety of sectors, from soil stabilisation to transportation, machinery sales and even in-house training, in order to offer its customer base any solution they need to meet their requirements.

A fundamental step in this direction was the purchase, in 2023, of the Ball Eye Quarry, near Cromford in the Peak District in Derbyshire, a quarry once mined for lead, fluorite, baryte and limestone, but abandoned since 2014. “The purchase of the Ball Eye quarry was of strategic importance for us,” says the CEO, David Collins. “Owning a quarry gives us the opportunity both to obtain high-quality aggregates for our projects and to supply them to our customers through the transport division.”

Restarting work at the quarry was a challenging undertaking for Collins Earthworks. The site was riddled with old excavations and faults, and it had to be upgraded to modern standards, ensuring compliance with current regulations, prioritising safety and productivity.

Today, the Ball Eye Quarry is notable not only for being a site for the extraction of high-quality limestone aggregates, but also for being one of the first examples of a sustainably managed quarry. With a pioneering spirit, Collins Earthworks opted to employ electric trucks to transport the aggregates, investing in a fleet of Volvo FMX electric vehicles and relevant off-grid rapid charging stations. The initiative aligns with the British government’s roadmap for cutting CO2, in which companies are encouraged to cut their operating emissions.

A loyal customer of the Derek Fitzgerald Plant in Leicestershire, an Indeco distributor for over 30 years, Collins Earthworks has numerous Indeco demolition hammers of various classes from the small HP 621/700 versions to the medium and large HP 1500, HP 2500, HP 5000 and HP 7000 models, up to the giant HP 12000. It is the latter that is, in fact, being used on a continuous cycle in the Ball Eye Quarry for the primary and secondary pulverising of limestone in the Monsal Dale fault.

Mounted on a Volvo EC700 excavator, the Indeco giant works 8 hours a day with a daily production ranging from 1700 to 2000 m³ of material. “We are very happy with our HP 12000,” says the Quarry Manager, Roy Bentley. “It works non-stop with no problems at all. No hammer from any other manufacturer compares to it in terms of power and production capacity. It amazes me that every rock quarry in Britain doesn’t have one. We now have a fleet of Indeco equipment and we are very satisfied with their performance at the various worksites.

They have proved to be hard-wearing and efficient with low maintenance requirements, which means less time lost in repairs and more time dedicated to productive work. When assessing demolition equipment, we look for machinery that can ensure high productivity with minimum downtime – and Indeco meets these expectations.” Purchasing an Indeco product means having access to qualified advice at all times to solve any problems and keep the equipment in perfect working order. Indeco hammers, in particular, have an added edge thanks to the automatic variable blow, a technology that independently adjusts the power and frequency of the blow according to the hardness of the material to be demolished. And this leads into greater efficiency and productivity.”