The Cementation Company was a large British construction business. It was eventually acquired by Trafalgar House, and is now part of Skanska.

History

The company was established by Albert Francois, a Belgian who had been striving to improve grouting associated with shaft sinking for coal mining, as the Francois Cementation Company based at Doncaster in 1910. The company began to struggle and was in need of strong direction. One of the board members John Alexander Agnew, a director and later Chairman of Consolidated Goldfields asked his son-in-law Abram Rupert Neelands, a Canadian mining engineer to look over the company and report its prospects. The shareholders were impressed with a report produced by Rupert, and asked if he could commit to the company. The offer was accepted on the basis Rupert had 'full charge and complete control', and he took over management of the business in 1921. Through the vision of Rupert a small profit started to be released. In 1941, the company was renamed as the Cementation Company. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

it undertook the grouting of 15 runways. In the 1950s, it undertook grouting for several major dams including the Kariba Dam on the border between

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

and the Dukan Dam in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. Then in 1967 it acquired

Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company was a UK bridge works and structural steel contractor based in Darlington. It built landmarks including the Victoria Falls Bridge in Zimbabwe; the Tees Transporter Bridge; the Forth Road and Humber suspe ...

. The Cementation Company was acquired by Trafalgar House in 1970.O'Driscoll, p. 51 In 1984, British Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

faced conflict-of-interest questions in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

in relation to the involvement of her son Mark in representing Cementation in its bid to build a university in Oman at a time when the Prime Minister was urging Omanis to buy British. In 2001, it became part of Skanska.

References

Sources

* {{Authority control British companies established in 1910 Companies based in Doncaster Construction and civil engineering companies of the United Kingdom 1910 establishments in England Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1910