Five generations. One continuous line.

Willmott Dixon is one of a rare handful of British companies that can trace an unbroken line back to the middle of the nineteenth century, and rarer still, we're still family-owned and independent.

From our first contract in 1852 to today, we've grown into a construction and interiors group turning over more than £1 billion. In between sits a story of craft, of people kept for a lifetime, and of buildings made to last far longer than the headlines about them. Rick Willmott, the fifth generation of the family to lead the business, is Executive Chairman.

Where it started

John Willmott was a bricklayer in the Cambridgeshire village of Bassingbourn, working for a local builder on the Earl of Hardwick's Wimpole Estate, when the estate manager asked him a simple question: why don't you work for yourself?

The job was to dig and brick-line a new well, twelve feet deep, four inches of brickwork. With labourers earning three pence an hour and bricklayers five, he priced it at one pound, and the work was his.

Chapter I - 1852 – 1923: The founder and his sons

John Willmott's business grows into a family firm. His sons are trained as carpenters and bricklayers and open branches across the east of England, and the company earns a name for craftsmanship, bank and shop fittings, and war-memorial oak panelling with more than 23,000 letters carved and gilded by hand.

Among its early work: railway stations, grammar schools, and a share in building the brand-new Letchworth Garden City, the town Willmott Dixon still calls home today.

MILESTONES

  • 1852: The company is founded in Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, when John Willmott wins his first contract, a well at Wimpole, for £1.

  • 1878: Son William John establishes the business in Hitchin. Working alongside their father, the family firm becomes known as John Willmott & Sons.

  • 1899: A tradition that still defines the company begins, as William George starts his apprenticeship, the first of many sons and trainees brought up within the business.

John Willmott, a young bricklayer, founds the company in Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire. He wins his first project to build a well at Wimpole Hall for £1.

Chapter II - 1924 – 1970: A century of building

Through two world wars, reconstruction and the great post-war housing drive, the company builds at scale while holding on to the craft it was founded on. In 1952 it marks its centenary with a dinner for hundreds of employees — a milestone that says as much about loyalty as longevity, as a culture of long service and promotion from within takes firm root.

MILESTONES

  • 1924: The firm separates into the Hitchin and Hornsey companies, covering their own regions.

  • 1925: The company completes its first housing development, the Manor Estate in Hitchin.

  • 1952: The centenary. One hundred years of building, celebrated with a dinner and concert for the whole workforce.

  • 1965: John Willmott Developments is formed to widen the business, trading successfully for more than a decade.

  • 1969: The Hitchin and Hornsey companies are reunited under a new parent, John Willmott Construction.

  • 1970: Group turnover reaches £2.2m.

William John Willmott is the first of John Willmott's sons to buy a conjoining business. The firm becomes known as John Willmott & Sons.

Chapter III - 1971 – 2001: Becoming Willmott Dixon

The company grows into a national contractor and, in 1987, takes the name Willmott Dixon in recognition of Ian Dixon, who led its transformation. It becomes the industry's pioneer of Partnering - collaboration over conflict - and, in Elizabeth Fry House at the University of East Anglia (1999), builds what is still regarded as one of the most sustainable buildings in Britain, decades before “net zero” entered anyone's vocabulary.

MILESTONES

  • 1976: The acquisition of A.E. Symes establishes a presence in London and boosts turnover.

  • 1977: In its 125th year, the company refurbishes the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' headquarters, opened by The Queen the following year, and launches the Ten Year Club to honour long service.

  • 1987: The group takes the name Willmott Dixon, recognising Ian Dixon's contribution to two decades of growth.

  • 1989: The first Trainee of the Year is named, a young site manager called Stewart Brundell. Remember that name.

  • 1997: Willmott Dixon completes Blackbird Leys in Oxford, then the largest social housing project in the country.

  • 1999: Elizabeth Fry House is completed for the University of East Anglia, still cited as one of the most sustainable buildings ever built.

  • 2000: The head office moves to the Spirella complex in Letchworth Garden City, the garden city the company helped build, where it remains today. Management trainee Graham Dundas wins Trainee of the Year. Remember that name

Chapter IV | 2002 – Today: A purpose for the future

The modern era carries the old values forward and gives them a sharper edge: carbon-neutral operations, Queen's and King's Awards for sustainability and for promoting opportunity, and a leadership drawn from people who came up through the business. The line that started in 1989 completes itself here, both the Chief Executive and the Chief Operating Officer of today's £1 billion company are former Trainees of the Year.

MILESTONES

  • 2002: The 150th anniversary, marked with a day's racing at Ascot for shareholders, staff and their families.
  • 2004: The company replaces the gates to the Willmott Playing Fields in Bassingbourn, a quiet nod to where it all began.

  • 2005: Rick Willmott is appointed Group Chief Executive. The company floats its support services business Inspace, with Colin Enticknap as Inspace's Executive Chairman.

  • 2008: The company takes Inspace private again, with Rick Willmott at the helm of the enlarged business as Chief Executive.

  • 2012: Willmott Dixon becomes a carbon-neutral business.
  • 2014: A Queen's Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development recognises the company's environmental credentials.
  • 2023: A King's Award for Enterprise for Promoting Opportunity, followed in 2024 by a King's Award for Sustainability.
  • 2024: Graham Dundas, a former Trainee of the Year, is promoted to Chief Executive; Rick Willmott becomes Executive Chairman.
  • 2025: Stewart Brundell, our very first Trainee of the Year, back in 1989, is promoted to Chief Operating Officer of Willmott Dixon's £1bn construction business.

What hasn't changed.... a great deal is different. A few things, we've never rebuilt.

Technology, scale and standards have moved beyond recognition since 1852. But pull the threads all the way back and the same four run through every era.

Craft

From 23,000 letters gilded by hand on inter-war memorials to Passivhaus precision today, the standard of the work has always been the point.

People we keep

The first Trainee of the Year was named in 1989. Today's CEO and COO were both Trainees of the Year, proof that here, you can still start at the bottom and reach the top.

Independence

Privately owned since 1852 and financially conservative by instinct, five generations of family stewardship, and no shareholders to please but our own conscience.

Building for the long term

Elizabeth Fry House was one of Britain's greenest buildings in 1999. Our goal now is net zero by 2030, the same instinct, a bigger ambition.

The next chapter - A 175-year-old company that thinks about the next fifty.

Today Willmott Dixon builds the hospitals, schools, homes, leisure centres and defence facilities that communities depend on, to the highest sustainability standards, and with social value built in from the first day on site.

OUR PURPOSE

To deliver brilliant buildings, transform lives, strengthen communities and enhance the environment so our world is fit for future generations.

Read The Story of John Willmott and Sons