Costain Group is one of the UK’s oldest and best known businesses in construction. Like many early founders, Richard Costain had very little to his name other than a great idea and the ambition to see it through.
A century and a half later Costain has staked a claim in some of the most landmark projects of the 21st Century, including the renovation of King’s Cross St. Pancras and Crossrail. Let’s look back at the rise of Costain Group and how they got to where they are today…
Richard Costain was born at a farm in Colby, in the Isle of Man, an island left in anguish from agricultural depression which followed the industrial revolution.
Costain spent his early years on the island before leaving farming for apprenticeship as a builder, but struggled nonetheless to find work.
It was only when his strict Methodist parents forbade him from marrying his fiancée Margaret Kneen until he was well established, that he was emboldened to look beyond his struggling hometown and find new work in England.
In 1865 Costain and his future brother-in-law, William Keen, left Colby and made the short crossing from the Isle of Man to the booming port of Liverpool.
The 19th century represented a period of healthy trade and population growth for Liverpool, including growth in the cotton trade, accompanied by the development of strong trading links with India and the Far East, making the town fertile ground for new work.
Together Costain and Keen formed a partnership in Albert Road, Waterloo, and began to trade successfully as jobbing builders and undertakers.
According to a 2006 biography of Richard Costain, Costain was “not just a visionary builder but had an imaginative eye for advertising and publicity.”
The pair quickly found success, repairing an unmade road that they then named Costain and Kneen Road so that they would have an address for deliveries.
Their workforce was already 30-strong by 1870, until in 1888 they amicably agreed to go their separate ways.
Richard’s eldest son, also Richard, joined the company where the second son W.P was already in the office, circa 1888.
During this time the company was undertaking a wide range of constructions, including much of the housing at Port Sunlight, Lord Lever’s ‘Garden City’.
Richard Costain senior died in 1902, husband to Margaret Keen and father to eight children – five sons and three daughters.
By 1918, the company would go on to build steel workers’ houses at Redcar, Cleveland, and as bricks were in short supply after the Great War, the company employed steel frames with concrete cladding.
Then in 1929, the company continued expansion, building large estates around London, the largest being a site for 7,500 homes in South Hornchurch.
Overseas projects would soon mark significant milestones for Costain, with the completion of Trans-Iranian Railway in 1939, which covered 11 miles through the Alborz Mountains and required both viaduct building and tunnelling.
The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1943 and was involved in the construction of the Mulberry floating harbours for D-Day.
It also pioneered the use of pre-stressed concrete and branched out into enterprises as widespread as airports, docks and wartime defences.
The group was the main contractor for both building and later demolishing the Festival of Britain Exhibition in 1951, and constructed the Ministry of Defence building where the Palace of Whitehall once stood.
Albert, one of Richard Costain’s grandsons, became chairman of the Costain Group from 1966 to 1969, following the death of his elder brother, Richard.
Albert Costain also served as a Member of the UK Parliament, for several years as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Geoffrey Rippon when the latter was a member of the British government.
Between 1960 and 2000 Costain continued to build upon their early successes completed several notable projects including:
- 1960: Al Shuwaikh Desalination Plant in Kuwait.
- 1972: World’s largest dry dock and the Middle East’s largest deep-water port in Dubai.
- 1984: Thames Barrier, which protects 1.4 million Londoners and £320 billion of property.
- 1993: World’s longest undersea tunnel, Channel Tunnel.
Then as the 2000s rolled around, the group planted its flagpole in some of the most significant projects of the new millennium.
These included, the King’s Cross western concourse and restoration of London’s St Pancras Station and a four-year programme worth £100 million as part of Costain-Skanska joint venture along with several contractors for Crossrail’s advance works civils framework agreement.
Recent projects include:
- 2014: Completed the Evaporator D project for Sellafield Ltd, one of the largest nuclear projects completed in the UK.
- 2018: Awarded a £400m million contract to redevelop London Bridge Station.
- 2022: Completion of the Paddington Elizabeth Line station.
- 2023: Completion of the upgraded Gatwick Airport station.
The company continues to honour the legacy of its founder and its strong portfolio of work to this day.
The company’s latest half year financial results show a doubling of its pre-tax profits to £17 million from £8.5 million in the first half of 2023.
The firm also said it has a strong forward work position, with a healthy combined order book and preferred bidder book, increasing from £4.0 billion in the first half of 2023 to £4.3 billion in the same period this year.
Most recently CMDP+, a joint venture between Costain and MWH Treatment, was selected by Southern Water to shape and deliver its next strategic asset upgrade programme.
The £500 million, seven-year contract will see the joint venture deliver upgrades to water and wastewater assets, including treatment sites, pumping stations and reservoirs, during Asset Management Period 8 (AMP8).
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