Catalogue description Associated Bridge Builders Limited Collection

This collection contains: Directors minutes 1963-1968; Correspondence files 1965-1969; Ledgers 1961-1967; Monthly and weekly reports 1962-1967; Press cuttings 1962; Programme from Royal Opening 1966.

Associated Bridge Builders Limited

Following the winding up of the company, the records were then held by Dorman Long and Co. Ltd. Following the dissolution of this company the records were held in the British Steel Northern Regional Records Centre, Skippers Lane, Middlesbrough until the mid-1990s. Then, following a change in policy by British Steel which saw that records of potential historical importance were no longer required and instead should be offered to local record offices. This saw that they were given as a gift to Teesside Archives and transferred. However, transfer was not completed in one deposit and further records of the company have been deposited since this time in separate accessions.

Associated Bridge Builders was formed through a partnership between Sir William Arrol & Company Limited, The Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company Limited and Dorman Long (Bridge & Engineering) Limited. The company's registered offices were located at Trafalgar House, Whitehall, London. The consortium already worked together on the construction of the Forth Road Bridge under the guise of British Bridge Builders.
A Private Company, Associated Bridge Builders formed for the purpose of undertaking the work of building the Severn Road Bridge, submitting a tender for the contract for £6,057,521 in 1961, with the Ministry of Transporting announcing in May 1962 the success of this bid. To reflect this convergence of companies, the elected Chairman of the Company would retire after a given period to allow a representative from one of the other partner companies to hold the post as agreed in the Articles of Association whilst the Board was made from representatives of each of the three partners.Upon completion the Severn Bridge was opened by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on the 8th September 1966. Following the end of a maintenance period and the Severn Bridge officially handed over by the consortium to the Ministry of Transport in August 1967, ABB ceasing trading. As a result, in December 1968 it was agreed at an Extraordinary General Meeting that the Company should be wound up voluntarily.