Our company was established in 1919 and since that time as a single office in Aberdeen, it has expanded and now has offices in Glasgow, Lerwick, Thurso, Dundee and Southampton. We also have staff working in Orkney and Inverness.
Archibald Henderson started the company, Henderson & Nicol, in 1919 at an office in Bridge Street, Aberdeen, in partnership with G. Gordon Nicol. In 1938 Mr Nicol left the Partnership and the company changed its name to Arch Henderson and Partners. Mr Henderson specialised in harbour and dock works, river training, and dredging, in Scotland, England and Ireland; although he also worked for a while in Brazil, Spain and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Immediately prior to establishing the Partnership, Mr Nicol had been the Resident Engineer at MacDuff Harbour, and he remained the Consultant Engineer for MacDuff Harbour until he died in 1947.
One of the company’s first projects was in the early 1920s when Mr Henderson came to Lerwick to work with Lerwick Harbour Trust on the Albert Wharf – Alexandra Wharf scheme, and Arch Henderson has been working with Lerwick Port Authority ever since.
For a relatively small company we have made quite an impact on many of the ports and harbours in Scotland, and other places around the world. The company continues to expand and now employs over 70 staff in six offices, and our work has diversified to include a wider range of commercial, industrial and architectural projects.
During 2019 we celebrated our first centenary. We carried out some research into the history of the company and the many projects we have worked on during this time. Some of these stories have been shared on our website and in a book that we published.
