Strachan & Henshaw

Strachan & Henshaw
Public
Industry Engineering
Fate Acquired
Successor Babcock International Group
Founded 1879
Defunct 2008
Headquarters Bristol, UK

Strachan & Henshaw was a major defence and nuclear engineering company based in Ashton Gate in Bristol.

History

The Company was founded by Robert Price Strachan & George Henshaw in 1879 as a partnership specialising in the manufacture of paper-bag making machinery operating from Lewin's Mead in Bristol. In 1920 the business was bought by E. S. & A. Robinson.[1]

In the 1950s, as part of a consortium involving Clarke Chapman, Head Wrightson, C. A. Parsons & Co., A. Reyrolle & Co. and Whessoe and known as the Nuclear Power Plant Company ('NPPC'), it was awarded a contract for reactor mechanical plant at Oldbury nuclear power station.[2] It was subsequently awarded similar contracts at Heysham 2, Hinkley Point B, Hunterston B and Torness nuclear power stations.[2]

In 1966 the Company's owners, E.S. & A. Robinson Ltd, merged with John Dickinson Ltd to form Dickinson Robinson Group.[3]

In 1972 the Company became the prime contractor for launch systems for the Trafalgar class submarine fleet.[4] Then in 1989 Roland Franklin of Pembridge Associates acquired Dickinson Robinson Group[3] and went on to sell Strachan & Henshaw to Weir Group in July 1990.[5]

In April 1998 it bought acquired Bridgetest Holdings Ltd, a Manchester based engineering company whose subsidiaries included Cunnington & Cooper Ltd, Nuclear and General Engineering Ltd and Wingrove & Rogers, all well-established businesses in the UK nuclear industry.[6] Then in May 2000 the Company sold its materials handling equipment division to Sweden's Svedala.[7]

The business was acquired Babcock International Group for £65m in April 2008; it was subsequently fully integrated into Babcock and the Strachan & Henshaw name is no longer used.[5]

References

  1. Bristol & Co. by Helen Reid, Redcliffe Press, 1987 ISBN 0-948265-61-2
  2. 1 2 The UK Magnox and AGR Power Station Projects
  3. 1 2 Heritage: John Dickinson
  4. Completed acquisition by Babcock International Group of the Strachan & Henshaw division of Weir Group plc Archived 2011-08-30 at the Wayback Machine. Office of Fair Trading, 3 September 2008
  5. 1 2 Weir Group sells Strachan & Henshaw for £65m Herald Scotland, 22 April 2008
  6. FELI by the wayside? World Cargo News, July 1999
  7. Svedala buys S&H Handling Archived 2006-11-02 at the Wayback Machine. Coaltrans, May 2000
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