Robert McAlpine 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. 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. 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'). 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. 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. In November 1934, Sir Robert died aged 87. Two weeks later his 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. 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. 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. In 2003, Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd sued Alfred McAlpine plc over the use of the family name and won. 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 and his son, 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. In November 2017, the company announced 90 job losses in a cost-cutting drive following a loss-making energy from waste project. Six regional centres were to be cut to four. The company then announced a new board and leadership structure, with no McAlpine family members included in the leadership team under CEO Paul Hamer. Edward McAlpine took over from Gavin McAlpine as chairman in January 2019. In the year to October 2022, the company had a turnover of £1.1bn with pre-tax profit of £9.3m. In 2023, Hamer reviewed the firm's structure and switched its focus to sectors rather than regions; the restructure was estimated to cost £8.4m and would result in annual savings of over £20m. However, Hamer did not see these savings realised – by February 2024, he was on
gardening leave with former
Lendlease boss Neil Martin taking over as CEO on 19 February 2024. In July 2024, Sir Robert McAlpine reported a £110m operating loss in the year to October 2023, with revenue down 19% to £881m. It recovered the following year, reporting a £10.4m pre-tax profit on turnover up 7% to £940m.
The Irish connection From the 1930s onwards, the company employed large numbers of
Irish immigrants 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. The company is also mentioned in other songs, such as "Building Up and Tearing England Down," also written by Behan, though historian Ultan Cowley has suggested that the relationship between Irish labour and senior management at Sir Robert McAlpine was more collaborative than what is related in these songs. ==Structure==