the construction company . for the founder of the same name see sir robert mcalpine 1st baronet . sir robert mcalpine type private company industry engineering construction founded 1869 headquarters hemel hempstead england revenue 862 million 2014 1 operating income 89.7 million 2014 1 website www.sir robert mcalpine.com sir robert mcalpine is a private british company headquartered in hertfordshire . it carries out engineering and construction for the oil and gas petrochemical power generation nuclear pharmaceutical defence chemical water and mining industries . contents 1 history 1.1 the irish connection 2 structure 3 major projects 4 controversies 5 references 6 sources history edit sir robert mcalpine 1st baronet who founded the eponymous company was born in 1847 in the scottish village of newarthill near motherwell . from the age of seven he worked in the nearby coal mines leaving at 16 to become an apprentice bricklayer . later working for an engineer he progressed to being foreman before starting to work on his own account at the age of 22 1869 . he had no capital other than that he could earn himself and his first contract involving the employment of other men had to be financed by borrowing 11 from the butcher . from there mcalpine enjoyed rapid success ; the early contracts centred on his own trade of bricklaying and by 1874 he was the owner of two brickyards and an employer of 1 000 men . 2 it was on one of the housing estates he built that he first experimented with using concrete blocks as well as bricks from which he earned the nickname concrete bob . 3 the glenfinnan viaduct with the capital he had acquired mcalpine determined to build a garden city at hamilton south lanarkshire . relying now on the income from his estate mcalpine s attention moved away from his contracting business towards self education . however the financial panic following the collapse of the city of glasgow bank in 1878 virtually wiped out mcalpine financially his mortgages were called in but his debtors did not pay him . 2 the liabilities from the hamilton estate were threatening the construction business and to protect it robert took his clerk into partnership trading under the name mcalpine & co ; the clerk was bought out not long after . mcalpine s first large contract was a building for the singer manufacturing company in 1883 and the profit from that enabled him to pay off his remaining debts . almost immediately he faced further financial difficulties . winning a contract for the lanarkshire and ayrshire railway without the necessary technical knowledge the subsequent rebuilding work and litigation meant another fresh start . 2 in 1887 robert took his two eldest sons robert junior and william out of school to help him with malcolm and alfred following soon after and they did much to rationalise the firm s administration and finances . undaunted by his earlier experience mcalpine took on further railway contracts this time successfully including the mallaig extension railway and the glasgow subway . there was an increasingly wide range of building and civil engineering contracts but the firm was almost brought to its knees again with the construction of the methil docks between 1909 and 1913 . it was argued that this led to a much more cautious approach to risk on the part of the sons if not the father . 4 the inter war period saw the firm focusing solely on construction . gray wrote that sir robert mcalpine seemed to have been involved in every major building and civil engineering project that ever hit the headlines of the day . they included docks harbours power stations factories ; the wembley stadium and the dorchester hotel were notable examples . 4 the dorchester was of particular interest . when the client was unable to pay for the construction works the company took possession of the completed building and operated it on its own account . 5 newcastle civic centre in november 1934 sir robert died aged 87 . two weeks later the eldest son the new sir robert also died . william was appointed chairman while alfred remained in charge of the operation in the north west subsidiary where he had been since 1918 . these two deaths must have had some impact on what followed . the two london partners argued that the recession was impacting more on the north than the south and proposed closing alfred s company . alfred however did not wish to return to london and on an informal basis at first the two businesses were run separately . the separation was formalised in 1940 and the northern business was renamed sir alfred mcalpine . 4 during the second world war the company was one of the contractors engaged in building the mulberry harbour units . 6 the two mcalpine firms had non compete arrangements and sites had a common mcalpine board irrespective of which firm it was . when both companies first went public they did so under the names newarthill for robert and marchwiel for alfred . these arrangements continued until 1983 . 7 in 2003 sir robert mcalpine ltd. sued alfred mcalpine plc over the use of the family name and won . 8 the dispute centred on alfred mcalpine s intention to trade under the name mcalpine . there was previously a long standing agreement within the mcalpine family not to make such a change but following the death of alfred mcalpine the board of alfred mcalpine sought to make the change in any event . the effect of the judgment was to prevent alfred mcalpine trading under the name mcalpine . in 2008 alfred mcalpine plc was acquired by carillion and dismantled thus making the name war irrelevant . 9 the irish connection edit from the 1930s onwards the company employed large numbers of irish who had come to england looking for work . the harsh working conditions with which mcalpine s management treated their labourers has gone down in irish emigrant folklore . the song mcalpine s fusiliers written by dominic behan and made famous by the dubliners described the realities of life on the building site for many irish expatriates . 10 structure edit the company is organised on a regional basis . 11 it has offices in hemel hempstead london birmingham cardiff bristol manchester newcastle leeds edinburgh and glasgow . the plant section is based in kettering . major projects edit emirates stadium projects undertaken by the company have included glenfinnan viaduct completed in 1901 12 maine road stadium completed in 1923 13 wembley stadium completed in 1924 12 dorchester hotel in london completed in 1931 12 odeon leicester square completed in 1937 14 the shell centre completed in 1962 14 newcastle civic centre completed in 1968 15 hyde park barracks london completed in 1970 14 royal national theatre completed in 1977 14 st. enoch centre completed in 1989 12 millennium dome completed in 1999 12 which the company also redeveloped as the o2 12 millennium bridge completed in 2000 16 excel exhibition centre completed in 2000 17 eden project completed in 2001 18 wishaw general hospital completed in 2001 19 imperial war museum north completed in 2002 20 bull ring birmingham completed in 2003 21 emirates stadium completed in 2006 22 white river place development in st austell town centre completed in 2009 23 olympic stadium for london 2012 completed in 2011 24 one kensington gardens completed in 2015 25 26 controversies edit sir robert mcalpine funded the initial establishment of the consulting association in 1993 providing 20 000 around half of which was used to buy a blacklist database from the economic league and hire one of its former employees ian kerr as manager . 27 28 company director callum mcalpine served as chairman of the consulting association for some years before it became publicly implicated in a construction industry blacklisting scandal in 2009 and was wound up . subsequently sir robert mcalpine was one of eight businesses involved in the 2014 launch of the construction workers compensation scheme 29 though this was condemned as a pr stunt by the gmb union and described by the scottish affairs select committee as an act of bad faith . 30 on 11 may 2016 major companies including sir robert mcalpine issued an unreserved and sincere apology in the high court to hundreds of workers for putting them on the illegal blacklist and denying them work over two decades . the companies agreed to pay sums ranging from 25 000 to 200 000 to 771 people under out of court settlements to avoid a trial while accepting that their secret vetting operation should never have happened . however evidence disclosed before the settlement led many of the victims to claim that there was an illegal attempt by mcalpine executives to destroy evidence and cover up the involvement of key individuals when the blacklisting was discovered in 2009 . the targets of the victims intended criminal complaint included director cullum mcalpine and head of human resources david cochrane who was a later chairman of the association . both denied involvement in destroying any relevant files and attempting to pervert the course of justice . 31 references edit a b sir robert mcalpine suffers 90m loss . construction enquirer . 15 may 2015 . retrieved 18 may 2015 . a b c j saxon childers robert mcalpine a biography 1925 mcalpine the first hundred years 1969 a b c tony gray the road to success alfred mcalpine 1935 1985 1987 sir william mcalpine talks to andy milne . railway people . 30 june 2006 . retrieved 16 may 2009 . hartcup p. 94 wellings fred dictionary of british housebuilders 2006 troubador . isbn 978 0 9552965 0 5 mark milner 1 april 2004 . court verdict finds for sir robert . the guardian . retrieved 11 july 2008 . carillion agrees to buy mcalpine . bbc news . 10 december 2007 . retrieved 13 july 2008 . mcalpines fusiliers . free lyrics . retrieved 16 may 2009 . will mann 14 december 2007 . sir robert mcalpine boss benny kelly to step down . contract journal . retrieved 11 july 2007 . a b c d e f sir robert mcalpine project archive . sir robert mcalpine . retrieved 11 july 2008 . maine road . structurae . retrieved 11 july 2008 . a b c d a portrait of achievement pdf . sir robert mcalpine . retrieved 24 april 2016 . civic centre barras bridge newcastle upon tyne unknown c. 1960 . newcastle libraries . retrieved 24 april 2016 . millennium bridge . structurae . retrieved 11 july 2008 . news from worldwide . worldwide exhibition specialists ltd. archived from the original on 15 march 2008 . retrieved 11 july 2008 . the eden project . living places . retrieved 9 november 2012 . who are summit healthcare . labour party . 6 october 2000 . retrieved 1 august 2015 . williams austin 19 october 2000 . conflict resolution . architects journal . retrieved 6 october 2009 . building the bullring pdf . birmingham city council . archived from the original pdf on 29 may 2008 . retrieved 11 july 2008 . first ball kicked at emirates stadium . arsenal f.c. 25 august 2005 . archived from the original on 24 april 2008 . retrieved 11 july 2008 . rebecca froley 2 october 2006 . sir robert mcalpine wins st austell redevelopment . contract journal . retrieved 11 july 2008 . tom bill 24 july 2007 . oda signs olympic stadium deal with sir robert mcalpine . contract journal . retrieved 11 july 2008 . one kensington gardens london 2010 2015 . david chipper eld architects . retrieved 19 september 2016 . one kensington gardens . dalesauna . retrieved 19 september 2016 . rob evans severin carrell and helen carter the guardian 27 may 2009 man behind illegal blacklist