Interserve Plc has its corporate base near Reading in Berkshire. It has been in existence for well over 100 years.

• The business that was ultimately to become Interserve was formed in 1884 as the London and Tilbury Lighterage Company Limited. Its trade involved transferring goods by barge to and from ships.
• In 1888 the company secured a dredging contract with the Port of London. Dredging subsequently became the mainstay of the company as lighterage gradually declined with the increase of road traffic.
• Civil engineering began in the 1940s and, with building, had become the company's focus by the 60s.
• Following strategic shifts and growth through the 70s and 80s, in 1991 Tilbury acquired RM Douglas, another construction and civil engineering business, and became Tilbury Douglas.
• Through the 1990s the Group adopted a new strategy which progressively took it out of property development and housebuilding and into the support services sector.  Alongside numerous small purchases and disposals, three major acquisitions crystallised this move:
  • How Group plc in 1998, introducing facilities management and engineering services
  • Bandt plc in 1999, providing industrial and equipment services
  • Building & Property Limited in 2000, which provided a broader range of facilities management services.
• As a result of the change in focus, later that year the company transferred from the construction sector to the support services sector in the FTSE listing.
• Then in 2001, to reflect the new emphasis, the group changed its name to Interserve.
• In 2003, under new Chief Executive Adrian Ringrose, the Group discontinued several non-core activities in order to provide increased concentration on those offering the best prospects for improved quality of continuing revenue streams and increasing shareholder value.
• Positioned as a services, maintenance and building company, Interserve generated solid organic growth through 2004, 2005 and 2006, providing services across the whole life-cycle of many types of buildings and infrastructure.
• In July 2006 we acquired MacLellan, a facilities management provider focusing on people-based services for private-sector clients. In concert with the acquisition we reorganised the Group into four workstreams:
• Facilities Services, comprising the Facilities Management and Specialist Services divisions;
• Project Services, the construction management division;
• Equipment Services, the division that designs, hires and sells formwork and falsework for construction projects; and
• PFI Investments, which structures our PFI transactions and provides management expertise to the project companies.

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