The company was originally established as the Francois Cementation Company in 1910 by Albert Francois, a
Belgian mining engineer who had
patented his technique for
cement grouting associated with
shaft sinking for
coal mining. Francois had developed the core principals of his technique by 1896, a key innovation of which being the use of a high-pressure
steam-driven cementation pump to apply cement at high pressures. Early on, Francois was keen to seek out business opportunities on the global market. He travelled to
South Africa for the first time in 1916 and quickly became involved in the nation's
gold mining industry as the grouting technique proved to be beneficial to this sector as well. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, numerous international subsidiaries of the Francois Cementation Company were established, often in economically attractive regions of what was then the
British Empire, including
Australia,
Canada,
India, and South Africa. During the
Second World War, the company undertook the grouting of 15 runways. Throughout the 1950s, it worked on the grouting of several major dams, including the
Kariba Dam on the border between
Zambia and
Zimbabwe and the
Dukan Dam in
Iraq. In 1967, the Cementation Company acquired
Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company. Three years later, the Cementation Company was acquired by
Trafalgar House. During 1984, British prime minister
Margaret Thatcher faced conflict-of-interest questions in the
House of Commons about 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. Throughout the late 20th century, the Cementation Company was involvement in various major civil engineering works. It was often turned to by
British Rail and its private predecessor companies to undertake work on specific projects, such as maintenance of the
Severn Tunnel. It was involved in the construction of portions of
High Speed 1. The firm has also worked on the
London Underground. It also secured work on elements of
Crossrail and
High Speed 2. During 2001, the company became part of
Skanska; shortly thereafter, it was rebranded as Cementation Skanska. Preferring to focus its attention on the northern hemisphere, Skanska arranged the sale of Cementation's subsidiaries in the Australian, Canadian and South African markets during 2003. During May 2018, Skanska publicly stated that it intended to divest Cementation Skanska and was actively searching for a new owner. At one point, active negotiations were underway for
Morrisroe to acquire the division. However, in mid 2019, Skanska announced that it no longer intended to sell Cementation Skanska and would retain ownership for the foreseeable future. ==References==