Founded on a Commitment to Serve
With a love for the highways industry and a determination to succeed, Marlborough was founded by our Chairman John Woolf in 1992, combining a desire to build a company that offers more personal client relationships with better customer care.
Family run, independent, and invested in the communities in which we work, from its inception, Marlborough has been guided by a set of strong values that are as relevant today as they were in 1992.
Always passionate about the safety and wellbeing of not just our employees, but all those with which we collaborate and serve, it’s Marlborough’s culture of openness, integrity, and flexibility that has remained central to our success.
Our Story
The Marlborough story is one of aspiration and we are proud of our past. From small beginnings to expansion and diversification, our greatest resource has always been our people, with every success attributed to the hard work of loyal and committed staff.
1992
Marlborough was founded by our Chairman John Woolf on 18 November 1992. Operating in the South East, the company initially specialised in high-quality road surfacing solutions.
2001
Under Managing Director Jim Revell, McDonald was formed to provide street lighting and highways maintenance services across Essex. Over the following two decades, Marlborough and McDonald collaborated ever more closely, diversifying services, and offering a complete in-house solution.
2005
Marlborough’s current Managing Director Matthew Revell joined the organisation, working alongside John Woolf.
2007
The Marlborough and McDonald combined workforce had increased ten-fold, with our pioneering inhouse training team winning our first Investors in People Award.
2008
Securing a £10 million+ contract for infrastructure work in East London, our first dedicated and comprehensive depot was established, alongside a major investment in our transport and plant fleet.
2008 - 2012
We were proud to support the construction of the London 2012 Olympic site in East London. Meanwhile, Marlborough expanded its operations, winning major contracts in the London Boroughs of Barking & Dagenham and Havering.
2013 - 2015
Marlborough and McDonald aligned their operations, fully combining in 2015 to become Marlborough McDonald, and subsequently Marlborough Highways.
2015 - 2017
Further expansion across London and the South East, securing significant new long-term business, including a £70 million contract with Southend-on-Sea City Council.
2018
We opened our brand-new headquarters Woolf House in Chelmsford, Essex, investing £4 million. The custom-built, state-of-the-art premises took just over 12 months to complete.
2020 - 2022
Against the backdrop of the global pandemic, Marlborough stepped up to the challenge, by adapting operational procedures and going above and beyond to deliver for our clients. More major contract wins followed, including for the London Borough’s of Islington and Newham.
Our Future
As we look ahead to the next 30 years and beyond, we are excited for the future of our organisation and the industry. We are proud of our hugely talented staff and are working hard to attract and support the next generation of highways professionals, with everyone at Marlborough working towards the same goals. We have ambitious plans for growth but recognise that there are obstacles on the road ahead. With increasing pressures on Britain’s transport networks and the need to protect the environment greater than ever, Marlborough will continue to embrace new technology and seek to expand and diversify our supply chain. Determined to rise to every challenge, it is by operating in a responsible, innovative, and ever more sustainable way, that Marlborough will help deliver the greener and cleaner environments that our communities deserve.
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Celebrating 30 Years of Marlborough Highways – Stand Down Day 2022
In recognition of Marlborough’s landmark 30-year anniversary, employees from across the business were invited to a fantastic event at Chelmsford’s historic Boreham House in Essex in May 2022. Presentations were given by the management team, before guest speaker Jason Anker MBE delivered a powerful and inspirational talk, which explored his own unique and challenging journey. The Stand Down Day, which included food, give-aways, and team-building activities, was all about recognising and celebrating success – reflecting on Marlborough’s past and looking ahead to the next chapter in our story.
"Our stand down day was a real celebration of where we’ve come from, where we are now and our ambition for the future. It was also a great opportunity to endorse health and safety, wellbeing and how we can support local communities. It was brilliant to see everyone together and appreciate just how much we’ve grown as a business in such a short amount of time."
Matthew Revell, Managing Director, Marlborough Highways
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Job Opportunities
Be part of the Marlborough story by viewing our latest job opportunities
Browse career opportunities Sign up to receive job alerts“One of the things I value most is their very collaborative and transparent team culture. It makes a big difference to have a contractor that wants to work closely with us and is supportive and responsive. With Marlborough, I get a team who are attentive, work collaboratively and honestly with me and don’t lose focus on delivering first class communications and compliance.”
“From the design stage, Marlborough has been fundamental in delivering the Broad Lane Square improvements scheme. During the works, not only did the team manage to keep to the programme, but they went the extra mile to ensure attention to detail and came up with innovative solutions to address issues encountered on site. My thanks on behalf of Haringey goes out to Marlborough for their dedication to deliver.”
“Working alongside our Term Service Contractor Marlborough Highways, we successfully completed renovations to the Crowstone Footbridge. The designs were provided by Marlborough, and the work was unique. The scheme was completed to budget and ahead of its programme duration.”
“I would like to thank you and your team for your efforts, the Marlborough crews were professional, courteous, and hard working all day and ensured the event went without a hitch. You and the team were a credit to the company, demonstrating commitment and support to the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.”
“I just wanted to say what a pleasure it has been to work with Marlborough Highways over the last six months. The quality of work is superb, and there has been some excellent collaboration between Milestone and Marlborough to complete, what at times, has been quite a challenging scheme. I hope to work with Marlborough on another project in the near future.”
“Marlborough worked with us in constructing a 1.3km cycle track. There were a number of technical difficulties to overcome, and their gifted foreman worked to propose some innovative solutions to the challenges we faced. The result is a facility that the locals are proud of, providing walkers and cyclists with alternative access to the hospital and nearby school. The scheme was a lot of hard work, but well worth it.”
“Marlborough attracts people who take care and have pride in their work. Several gangs of Operatives worked tirelessly for six months to reconstruct drainage networks, lay more than 3km of high quality bespoke granite kerbs and granite channels blocks to ensure positive drainage. The technical compliance, attention to detail and level of quality finish along the entire carriageway was exceptional”.
“We saw huge benefits in appointing Marlborough as our full service contractor and we’re impressed – they’ve delivered consistent high quality service and superior quality control across every project. Marlborough, provide us with a ‘one-stop’ shop solution – we get the same quality of service and better control across all aspects of the project.”
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