Our history
Our origins date back to 1884, when brothers Edmund and Augustus Hughes formed London and Tilbury Lighterage Company Limited, which specialised in transferring cargo between vessels.
RM Douglas was founded by Sir Robert Douglas, a construction engineer and Midlands industrialist of Scottish background. RM Douglas was a West Midlands building and civil engineering contractor that also had a formwork and scaffolding business, now known as RMD Kwikform.
In 1991, the two companies merged forming Tilbury Douglas.
1884 – 1960s
The London and Tilbury Lighterage Company Limited was founded in 1884.
RM Douglas was founded in the 1930s by Sir Robert Douglas. Sir Robert Douglas, born 2 February 1899, died December 1996, was a construction engineer and Midlands industrialist of Scottish background.
Douglas started out by sub-contracting to build small stretches of road for local authorities or developers, and in the late 1950s his civil engineering company was one of the first to take advantage of the motorway programme. Over the following 30 years, RM Douglas completed a range of motorway projects including sections of the M1, M40, M42 and M6.
1970 – 2000
RM Douglas is probably best known for two large developments in Birmingham – the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and the International Convention Centre, incorporating the Symphony Hall.
Sir Robert was chairman of the Douglas Group until 1977 and continued as president after its merger with Tilbury. He remained president until his death.
In 1991, Tilbury Lighterage Company Limited (then known as Tilbury Contracting Group Limited) merged with RM Douglas, forming Tilbury Douglas.
In the 1990s, Tilbury Douglas constructed phase two of the Murrayfield rugby union stadium redevelopment scheme in Edinburgh, Scotland and the London Eye, among many other projects.
2001 – 2020
In 2001, the group rebranded as Interserve plc, a name change to reflect the shift in focus towards maintenance and facilities management services.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Interserve Construction supported the UK government, including building the Birmingham Nightingale hospital at the NEC, a building it had built originally under RM Douglas.
2021
Back to Tilbury Douglas.
This is a name with historic significance to many of our colleagues and customers, but importantly, it allowed us to look to the future as the name is synonymous with a modern, high performing construction business.
2022: the next chapter
Tilbury Douglas Group re-established itself as a standalone major contractor, fully separated from the Interserve Group.
Tilbury Douglas is deeply committed to becoming the most customer-focused and productive contractor in the UK, benefitting from strong in-house mechanical & electrical (M&E) capabilities; a specialist fit-out business; and we have significantly invested in our enterprise and technology platforms.