History

1971 - The company was first registered as WAM Civil Engineering. 

1972 - The company was awarded its first contract installing 4,000 linear yards of 9" to 12" concrete pipes for Moira Rural Council and invested in Massey Ferguson 450S hydraulic excavators which were at the early stages of replacing rope type excavators.

1975 - Invested in the first four wheel drive loading shovels, driving greater efficiency in the civil engineering market.

1976 - Established Causeway Equipment which specialised in dewatering (Sykes pumps) and trench boxes (Shorco boxes).

1978 - The company purchased Seagoe Concrete Products, Portadown, from the McNeill Group to develop the production of precast manhole rings which was an emerging solution at the time.

1979 - Completion of numerous contracts throughout Northern Ireland - Belfast, Carrickfergus, Ballykinler, Lisburn, Newtownards, Craigavon & Enniskillen. The company became known for working in poor ground conditions and developed skills in tunnelling, sheet piling and dewatering.

1980 - Purchase of a 70 acre quarry in Carryduff, home of our current Head Office, which produced high quality aggregate. Purchase of Krings system for supporting trenches which greatly increased productivity of pipe laying. Invested in a number of the latest Fiat Allis S15 excavators which had much greater capacity than their competitors. 

1983 -  Completion of the Mourne Trunk Main which required the installation of 10 ton pipes. Fiat-Allis FE28  were used with 9ton drag boxes to install the pipes and CAT966 shovels with loading forks carried the pipes up the mountain side.

1984 - Developed a presence in UK, purchasing a yard in Greater Manchester and delivering civil engineering in NW England

1987 - Purchased our first Krings leader rig for sheet piling. The company converted three Fiat Allis excavators into piling rigs two 12 m and one 14 m rig. These rigs had 40 ton vibrating hammers. WA Dawson were agents for Krings at the time and was the start of a relationship which would grow.

1988 - The company finished a 4 year project to realign 40 miles of the River Blackwater which was delivered by the purchase of two first of their kind long reach Atlas excavators. Also used on the project was the first 6 wheel drive Moxy dump truck and CAT D6 Hi-Drive dozers.

1989 - Our first main contract sheet piling project was awarded by Yorkshire Water Rivers Division (now the EA) on the River Worth Flood Alleviation Scheme in Keighley West Yorkshire. After this the company completed a large range of Main Contract projects with significant piling requirements across all parts of England, Scotland and Wales, chiefly within the Water Industry.

1992 - The company commenced the £21M Duncrue Wastewater Treatment Works, the largest currently in Northern Ireland.

1993 - The first 'silent' piling system in the UK produced by Japansese firm Giken is purchased by the company.

1997 - The company sold materials supply companies to invest in piling and civil engineering projects throughout the U.K. and Ireland. With this sale came the purchase of piling contractor WA Dawson’s equipment and yard in Bedfordshire.

1998 - Works started in Canary Wharf London, where we completed 7 years of work delivering marine foundations for Canary Wharf Contractors in buildings which now house Barclays Bank PLC Head Office, Balfour Beatty PLC Head Office, and JP Morgan.

1999 - The company invested in piling rigs from German manufacturer ABI which offered multi discipline techniques by changing attachments on the telescopic leader. This was the start of concrete piling within the company. 

2000 - Our company rebranded to Dawson-WAM to incorporate the WA Dawson piling brand with WAM Civil Engineerings name.

2001 - Dawson-WAM completed its first close proximity basement, installing piles to within 100mm of a neighbouring property to form a 450mm diameter secant wall.

2003 - The company's largest piling subcontract to date commence, the £5M Quinn Glass Bottle Factory in Elton, Cheshire. Works involved the installation of 9,000 concrete piles, some bored into sandstone and others formed using vibro displacement.

2004 - The company purchase their first ABI TM18/22, at that time the largest sheet piling leader rig available in the UK.

2005 - In a joint venture with Black & Veatch, the company complete the £17M Culmore WwTW.

2006 - Dawson-WAM were awarded the foundations and substructure package for the first building project in Belfast's Titanic Quarter. The company went on to complete most of the piled foundations in the area.

2007 - The company purchased Bauer manufactured RTG RG25S piling rig which is the largest sheet piling leader rig in the UK and Ireland.

2008 - Works commence on the Moneymore Flood Protection Scheme which went on to win CEEQUAL Excellent (93%) award - at that time the highest score ever awarded by CEEQUAL.

2009 - We complete nearly 500 linear metres of secant piling and 1,000 load bearing piles for the Titanic Belfast, the world's largest Titanic visitor experience.

2010 - We are awarded the sheet piling package for the M25 widening scheme, a project which was the beginning of the company establishing itself as one of the premier sheet piling installers on Motorway Infrastructure

2012 - Dawson-WAM completes refurbishment of its Bedfordshire Office Building. Geothermal heating is introduced to reduce carbon footprint. In Belfast the Head Office and workshop are changed from a mixture of fossil fuels to Biomass Wood Pellet Boilers. Electric car charging points are subsequently introduced to both offices.

2013 - The company commences the challanging £10M extension to Newcastle WwTW in Co. Down, with the project going on to win an 'Excellent' CEEQUAL award.

2016 - Dawson-WAM are in the middle of a number of contracts to deliver large basement works, retaining walls and load bearing piles to two of the largest hospitals in Belfast, the Royal Victoria Hospital and the Ulster Hospital. 

2018 - We commence work on the challanging £7M Ormeau Avenue Sewer Upgrade in Belfast which require a varity of tunnelling, pipe laying and piling works in a very busy urban environment. This was the first scheme to separate the foul and storm sewers that we’re built in the Victorian age as combined sewers. The scheme won numerous awards including 'Most Considerate Site' in the UK's Considerate Constructor Scheme.

2019 - The company commences work on the M4 J3-12 and the M6 J13-15 Smart Motorway Projects installing over 14,000 linear metres of sheet piling with up to 7 rigs delivering these works at its peak.

2020 - We commenced the construction of the £10M Duncrue Sewerage Treatment Works in Belfast for NI Water and we awarded our first contracts on HS2 (High Speed 2 - Europes largest civil engineering and infrastructure project).

2022 - The company completed the £6.3M Shimna Flood Alleviation Scheme for DfI Rivers in Northern Ireland and commenced the £12.6M Campbeltown Flood Prevention Scheme for Argyll & Bute Council. The company purchased its 5th ABI TM22 Piling Rig as well as a Solimec SR125 to further strengthen our piling fleet.

2024 - Dawson-WAM continues to invest in the latest technology piling techniques and civil engineering plant. We deliver projects through-out the UK and Ireland working on some of the largest and most challenging projects in Europe.