Mitchell Construction was once a leading British civil engineering business based in Peterborough.

History

The business was founded by F.G. (Tiny) Mitchell in London in 1933 as an offshoot of Mitchell Engineering, his engineering business. In 1940 the Company moved to Peterborough because of the destruction created in London by The Blitz. David Morrell took over management of the business from Tiny Mitchell in 1954. During the 1950s the business expanded rapidly exploiting hydro-electric power opportunities in Scotland. In 1962 Mitchell Construction acquired Kinnear Moodie, a leading tunneling business. Chapelcross Nuclear Power Station 2

Major projects

Major projects undertaken by the business included: * The

Loch Cluanie Loch Cluanie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Loch Cluanaidh'') is a loch in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland at the south-east end of Glen Shiel. It is a reservoir, contained behind the Cluanie Dam, constructed by Mitchell Construction and completed in 19 ...

Dam completed in 1957 * Chapelcross Power Station completed in 1959 * The advanced gas-cooled reactor at

Sellafield Sellafield is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste processing and storage and nuclear decommissioning. Former activities included nucle ...

completed in 1962 * Fawley Power Station at Southampton completed in 1962 * The

Scotswood Bridge Scotswood Bridge is one of the main bridges crossing the River Tyne in North East England. It links the west end of Newcastle upon Tyne on the north bank of the river with the MetroCentre (shopping centre), MetroCentre and Blaydon in Gateshead ...

completed in 1967 * The

Kariba Dam The Kariba Dam is a double curvature concrete arch dam in the Kariba Gorge of the Zambezi river basin between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The dam stands tall and long. The dam forms Lake Kariba, which extends for and holds of water. Construction Th ...

North Cavern completed in 1973

Demise of the business

After getting into financial difficulties over the

North Cavern project, the company was acquired by

Tarmac Tarmac may refer to: Engineered surfaces * Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902 * Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded ta ...

and integrated into Tarmac Construction in 1973.Notes on Financial Times Actuaries Index 1973

References

Sources

*{{cite book, title=Indictment: Power & Politics in the Construction Industry, first=David , last=Morrell, publisher= Faber & Faber, date= 1987, isbn= 978-0-571-14985-8 Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1933 Construction and civil engineering companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Cambridgeshire Companies disestablished in 1973 1933 establishments in England 1973 disestablishments in England Construction and civil engineering companies disestablished in the 20th century British companies established in 1933 British companies disestablished in 1973