Carillion

Foundation

Carillion was created in July 1999, following a demerger from Tarmac, which had been founded in 1903. Tarmac focused on its core heavy building materials business, while Carillion included the former Tarmac Construction contracting business and the Tarmac Professional Services group of businesses. At the time of demerger Sir Neville Simms was appointed executive chairman of the business. Simms stood down from his executive responsibilities in January 2001 but remained non-executive chairman until May 2005 when Philip Rogerson took over the chair.

The name 'Carillion', a corruption of the word 'carillon' (a peal of bells), was intended to give the construction business a clearly defined, separate identity, and to distance it from its construction roots. It was proposed by London branding consultancy Sampson Tyrell (later Enterprise IG, part of WPP).

Acquisitions

Under CEO John McDonough (formerly at Johnson Controls, and appointed Carillion CEO in January 2001), Carillion expanded into the facilities management services sector.

In September 2001, Carillion acquired the 51% of GT Rail Maintenance it did not already own, thereby creating Carillion Rail. Carillion Rail carried out track renewals on the rail network, and contract work for Network Rail.