Prestigious international stone award for Roscommon man and his company

A Boyle native and his company Cregg Stone Limited were honored at a prestigious international ceremony for their amazing work in restoring an iconic building gutted by fire. 

This is the first time that an Irish company has won an award at the Natural Stone Awards Ceremony in London. The iconic Primark building in Belfast re-opened in November 2022 after it was gutted by a fire in August 2018.

The five-story historic structure, located in the center of the city, is a 125-year-old listed building. Its restoration is a story of unbelievable complexity and skill.

For master stonemason Cathal Cregg, who is the owner of Cregg Stone Limited located in Ballinasloe, and his team, it was the largest restoration project they had ever done. This was a listed building which had to be restored to its former glory, so the stakes were very high. It was a lengthy project that spanned two and a half years and was completed during the Covid pandemic years.

Cregg Stone had completed other large restoration projects including restoration works at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and the restoration of the fire damaged St Mel’s Cathedral in Longford.

At the coveted biannual 2024 Natural Stone Awards Ceremony in London on December 6th, Cathal and the team were honoured for their work on the restoration project, a project which was praised as an “outstanding masterpiece readily warranting recognition and celebration”.

TV’s Kevin McCloud, the host of Grand Designs, presented Cathal with his well-deserved award.

As noted at the ceremony, some 1,136 tons of Locharbriggs Red Sandstone had to be sourced from Dumfriesshire for the challenging remedial work that also included the salvage and repurposing of the original sandstone wherever possible.

“Given the consistently outstanding detail of the completed project, a high degree of collaborative teamwork, quality site control and exceptional craft skill is apparent,” the awards judges said.

“The completed and highly successful restoration project of the building's three major elevations is being recognised as one of the largest ever undertaken in Northern Ireland. The removal and replacement of over 1,000 tons of intricately carved and worked sandstone, also involved implementing closely controlled environment and ethical working practices.” 

Speaking to the Herald, Cathal said he was delighted to receive the award. It was an enormous task but to see the building brought back to its former glory was a reward itself, he said.

“It is great to be honored by your peers and to see your company recognised for the quality of the work we do on an international level was wonderful.

“There were 20 applicants in our category, Repair and Restoration so getting the nomination was really great,” he said. “This is the first time that an Irish stone company won this award, and this project has won seven or eight awards in different categories.” 

Cathal said that the project had boosted the company’s profile in the sector, and he thanked everyone involved in the Belfast project.

"Friday night we were celebrating, Tuesday morning we were back up on the scaffold," he said with a laugh. "It's business as usual."