About us
As an employee-owned company, London Bridge Associates has no external shareholders – quite simply, this is our company and we work for each other.
London Bridge Associates Ltd was founded in 2000 by Bob Ibell, David Sharrocks, Bob Allen, Terry Crabb, Frank Ellis, Harry Glennie, John Keys, John Northfield and Graham Walker. All had been working for Taylor Woodrow but in 1999, when TW restructured and exited from most civil engineering work, the seven decided to form a company, offering their wide range of knowledge and experience to tunnelling contractors and consultants.
One of the key principles when LBA was founded was that of staying in control of our destiny, focusing on providing work and development opportunities for our employees. Nobody can be a shareholder of LBA unless also an employee of the company.
We resolved to be a consultant with a difference – committed to delivering value at all times and being prepared to tell our client if we came to the point where we were unable to deliver further value. We also recognised that we could offer Contractors a service that would help them win bids and deliver projects without carrying the overhead of a permanent tunnelling team.
This meant we needed to be immersed in the industry, understand our clients’ drivers, build relationships and encourage our team to do the same. Happily, this is not a hardship for our team – if you have ever met any people from LBA, you’ll probably have been struck by their enthusiasm and their passion for their industry!
Our early commissions included CTRL C240 (now known as HS1), the Dublin Port Tunnel, refurbishment of the M25 Holmesdale Tunnel and the Brighton & Hove Wastewater project. Our commissions today are equally varied and include HS2, Crossrail, Hinkley Point C Marine Works, York Potash, MetroLink in Dublin, fire assurance, CDM expertise and many more.
Awards
We are very proud that the London Bridge Associates team has been shortlisted for, or won, a number of prizes and awards. These are a testament to the dedication of our team, as a collective and as individuals, to the civil engineering industry.
Team Talk
As a team, we pride ourselves on being friendly, welcoming and very, very good at what we do. That is an easy sentence to write but perhaps we should let our team speak for themselves… Please click through to read more about what it’s really like to work at LBA.
Terry Crabb Memorial Trust
Terry was a well-known, highly-respected and extremely popular colleague and friend. The Terry Crabb Memorial Trust (TCMT) was set up in 2009 in his memory.
Tunnelling Glossary
Tunnelling is full of interesting words, terms and phrases. Here’s a glossary of some of them.