In 1980, the Société Routière Colas (SRC) became Colas. The Group strengthened its traditional road business, moved into a new segment involving building and civil engineering.

In 1987, Alain Dupont was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Colas.

In 1983, Screg bought the 65% stake held by Société Parisienne Raveau Cartier (SPRC) in the Société d’Investissement de Travaux Publics (SITP) and became the largest shareholder of Colas. The Shell Group kept ownership of the remaining 35%. At the end of December 1985, the Bouygues group bought a stake in Screg. The three companies, Colas, Screg and Sacer, total 270 asphalt plants, 68 emulsion plants, 64 crushing installations, 5 binder production facilities.

Colas established its presence in Asia by being selected to build a new airport in Jakarta, on Ceng Kareng site, in 1980. The original design called for asphalt runways, but local authorities decided to use concrete instead. With no other choice but to comply, the consortium took up the challenge and built the concrete runways.

In the Indian Ocean, Colas has been present in Madagascar since the 1950s. The Group structured its foothold in Reunion Island with the creation of the Grands Travaux de l’Océan Indien (GTOI) in 1981, a new unit resulting from the merger of two local companies: LTPOI, a subsidiary of Colas, and GTE (Grands Travaux de l’Est). GTE had helped build in 1954 the island’s first iconic causeway. Colas also begins to operate on other islands in the Indian Ocean: Mayotte, Mauritius, Comoros.