Arcadis history

By 1925, the company was engaging itself in general rural development.

Axtell Yates Hallett ('AYH') was a British quantity surveying firm, founded by Stanley Axtell and his colleagues Messrs Yates and Hallett in the City of London in 1946.

Heidemij's foreign activities began in 1952, with cooperation on a project in Syria.

During 1959, it became involved in the exporting of water management and infrastructure services to developing countries.

Heidemij would remain a nonprofit organization until 1972.

In 1974, it was decided to heavily restructure the company, resulting in its division into two separate entities, the Association (or KNHM) and Heidemij.

Lovinklaan Foundation was established in 1982 to facilitate the restart of the Dutch company Heidemij, which later became the international stock-listed company Arcadis NV. At that time, Lovinklaan had a dual responsibility as governing body and major shareholder.

By the company's 100th anniversary in 1988, revenues had grown to NLG 334.2 million (approximately US$150 million), with profits of NLG 8.2 million.

During 1990, quickly following on from the end of the Cold War, the company decided to embark on an expansion programme orientated towards the European market.

That acquisition helped raise Heidemij's 1993 revenues to NLG 816 million, almost double the revenues of the year before.

During October 1997, the company opted to rebrand itself, changing its name to Arcadis.

In 1998 Heidemij, now known as Arcadis, admitted to its actions during the war and agreed to pay restitution to some of its victims.

In March 1999, the holding of the major shareholders was purchased by a team of existing senior managers, led by David Thompson, already a major shareholder himself.

At the beginning of 2002, AYH restructured its operations from a skill and regional office based structure into fully integrated market sector groups.

Arcadis UK merged with EC Harris as on 2 November 2011, after a vote of EC Harris' 183 partners on 31 October 2011.

In April 2012, the company acquired Langdon & Seah, an international construction consultancy company.

In October 2014, the company acquired Hyder Consulting for £296 million.