Foul and surface water drainage, sewer connections, land drainage and attenuation systems, installed to Building Regulations Part H and the SuDS requirements your site carries. Designed into the dig by the groundworks contractor already on the job.
Drainage contractors install and connect the systems that take water away from a building: foul water from WCs, kitchens and bathrooms, and surface water from roofs, drives and hard standing. On new work those are two separate systems, laid to fall, chambered so they can be rodded, and tested before the ground is closed over them.
Building Regulations Part H governs both, and building control inspects the drainage before it is covered. Get the invert levels or the discharge point wrong and the correction is not a repair, it is another dig.
That makes drainage an early decision on a Cornish site rather than a late one. Architects, developers, main contractors and homeowners come to us at design stage, at foundation stage, and when a system has run out of capacity.
Below ground foul drainage from the building to the sewer or the treatment system, laid to fall with the correct bedding and surround, and chambered for rodding access where Part H asks for it. A connection into the public sewer runs through South West Water, the sewerage undertaker for Cornwall, and the work is set out to what that approval requires.
Roof and hard standing drainage taken to the right discharge point for the site: gullies, channel drainage, silt traps, outfalls and controlled discharge, sized against the hard surface they serve.
Modular cellular tanks installed below ground to hold back peak flow and release it downstream at a controlled rate. We installed three attenuation tanks on the St Ives job, one in the lower car park and two behind the retaining wall, either side of the steps.
Perforated land drain in a filtered stone surround, taking groundwater off saturated ground, out of a garden, or from behind a retaining structure.
Sized on a percolation test and built to serve the area discharging into them, on the soakaways page.
Off-mains foul drainage where there is no sewer to reach, on the septic tanks and treatment plants page.
Every system is set out from the engineer's or the architect's drawing and to the ground conditions found on site.
Your drainage passes inspection before it is coveredLevels, falls, bedding and chambers are set out from the drawing, so the building control visit is a formality rather than a risk in your programme.
Water goes where the site can genuinely take itGround conditions in west Cornwall change over a few metres. Testing first decides whether you are building a soakaway, an attenuation tank or a connection, before anything is ordered.
One contractor holds the ground and the drainageThe groundworks and the drainage are dug by the same contractor, so nothing waits on a handover and nothing gets buried by the trade that follows.
You can still get at it in twenty yearsChambers, rodding eyes and access points go in where they are needed and are recorded, so a future blockage is an hour with a rod rather than a hole in your drive.
Surface water is not a free choice, it is a hierarchy. According to Approved Document H of the Building Regulations, surface water should discharge to an adequate soakaway or other infiltration system where that is reasonably practicable, to a watercourse where it is not, and to a sewer only where neither is available. Settling that order at design stage, on evidence from the ground, is what stops a drainage strategy being rejected once the site is open.
Matt Richards runs the company as its director and operates the machine himself, so the drainage is set out by the person who quoted it. The work is delivered to architects' and engineers' drawings, on jobs including a 45 metre reinforced concrete retaining wall with three attenuation tanks and land drainage designed into it. The company carries £5m public liability, including groundworks and demolition up to 15 metres.
Matt Richards started in construction at 17 and has 23 years behind him. Mason by trade, then working foreman, then site manager across groundworks and demolition, before founding Cornwall Civils & Construction, now going into its third year. Drainage has run through all of it, because it is the element that has to be right before anything else goes on top.
Drainage is the one part of a build you cannot go back and change once the slab is down. So we set the invert levels and the falls off the drawing before anything is bedded, and we test it before we cover it.Matt Richards, director
23 years in construction, mason by trade
Director led, on site and operating the machine
Working to architects' and engineers' drawings
£5m public liability, including groundworks and demolition up to 15 metres
We work from Newlyn and cover west Cornwall, from the Penwith peninsula through to Falmouth. The three attenuation tanks and the land drainage behind the retaining wall are St Ives work, Newlyn is the trading address, and we are on drainage and groundworks jobs regularly in Hayle, Marazion, St Just, Camborne, Redruth, Helston and Falmouth.
The St Ives job carried three attenuation tanks, one in the lower car park and two behind the retaining wall, either side of the steps, holding water off the building roof and the car park, with land drains running behind the wall itself. On another west Cornwall site we installed 26 metres of soakaway, in stages, as the dig progressed.
We do not publish rates, because a drainage package is priced on the ground it is going into. What you get is a written quote before any work starts, setting out:
If the ground changes what is needed, you get the price in writing first.
Our reviews sit on Google where anyone can read them, which is where proof belongs.
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.
Send us the drawings, the postcode and the stage the site is at, and we will come and look at the ground before we price it. One contractor for the dig, the drainage and the build on top of it.
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
Last updated: 22 September 2026
