The business can trace its roots back to 1848 when James Laing (born in 1816), along with his wife Ann Graham, and some employees whom they had hired, built a house on a plot of land that they had bought for £30 in
Cumberland. The £150 proceeds from the first house financed the building of the next two houses on the same plot of land, one of which (Caldew House in
Sebergham) was kept by the Laing family to live in. Both the family and the business later moved near
Carlisle. When James Laing died in 1882, his son, John Laing (born in 1842) took over the running of the company. Its activities during the conflict, as well in the immediate years of reconstruction following it, greatly bolstered the company's reputation. at the time, the Laing family along with its trusts and charities held the majority of the shares. John William Laing became the chairman while his sons became joint managing directors. By this time, the number of employees was around 10,000, and every site had a quality supervisor. John William Laing retired in 1957. During 1964, the company acquired the rival civil engineering business
Holloway Brothers. built by John Laing Under William Kirby Laing and John Maurice Laing, the company continued to expand, winning contracts for power stations and diversifying into road construction while continuing to build houses. In 1985,
Martin Laing, of the sixth generation of the founding family, became chairman. Martin Laing determined that the company should begin to diversify. Home construction in the
United Kingdom,
Saudi Arabia,
Oman, the
United Arab Emirates,
Iraq,
Spain, and
California was now one of the major sources of the company's growth. In early 1999, a controlling interest in Chiltern Railways was purchased. , built by John Laing During the late 1990s, the business expanded rapidly, to the extent that, for the year ended 31 December 2001, its turnover was in excess of £1 billion. However, as the company celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1998, it faced falling profits following significant losses on certain construction contracts (including the
Cardiff Millennium Stadium, the
National Physical Laboratory, a disastrous PFI scheme in
Teddington, west London, and
No 1 Poultry in the
City of London), and sustained problems within its construction division related to competition and overcapacity. Accordingly, in 2001, the company cut 800 jobs, and disposed of its construction division to
O'Rourke for £1, far less than the roughly £100 million that had been anticipated. Shortly thereafter, Sir Martin Laing stepped down as executive chairman in favour of Bill Forrester. by 2002, it had structured itself into two main divisions, namely Homes and Investments. In April 2002, Laing's property developments divisions were sold to
Kier Group, and its house building arm was also sold to
George Wimpey later that same year. During 2003, its affordable housing division was sold via a
management buy-out. In December 2006, John Laing plc was acquired by the private equity arm of
Henderson Group. During June 2007, a 50:50 joint venture between Laing Rail and
MTR Corporation,
London Overground Rail Operations, was awarded the
London Overground concession. Several months later, the Laing Rail division, which by then operated
Chiltern Railways and (jointly) London Overground, as well as held a stake in
Wrexham & Shropshire, was put up for sale; the division was purchased by German rail operator
Deutsche Bahn in January 2008. In June 2008, John Laing in a joint venture with
Hitachi and Barclays Private Equity formed
Agility Trains to bid for the contract to design, manufacture, and maintenance of a fleet of long-distance trains for the
Intercity Express Programme. The bid was successful, leading to a £4.5bn contract for new trains for both
Greater Western and
InterCity East Coast franchises being finalised in mid 2012. The company established the
John Laing Infrastructure Fund in 2010 in a £270 million public launch; this entity focuses on the day-to-day operations of completed infrastructure. During October 2013, the company sold its facilities management business to
Carillion. In March 2014,
Olivier Brousse was appointed as Chief Executive; he avidly pursued further PPPs for infrastructure delivery and management services. The
John Laing Environmental Fund was established in 2014 in a £174 million public launch. In February 2015, the company became listed on the London Stock Exchange again. During September 2018, John Laing sold John Laing Infrastructure Fund Ltd. to Dalmore Capital and Equitix Investment Management. In June 2019, John Laing sold the Investment Advisory Agreement between John Laing Capital Management Ltd. and John Laing Environmental Fund Ltd. to Foresight Group CI Ltd. In September 2021 the transaction was completed. ==Significant investments==