Morrison was founded in Tain, in 1948, in the Highlands of Scotland. The family-run business continued to grow steadily and in the early 1970s an 80 per cent equity stake in the business was sold to an international conglomerate, Chartered Consolidated. In Scotland, the business Morrison continued to be family-run and enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. By the end of the decade turnover had risen from £2m to £50m.

The business continued to grow through the 1980s and in 1989 the Morrison family bought back the business, together with two English companies, namely Shand and Biggs Wall.

Sustained growth through the early 1990s across the UK and internationally led to Morrison being floated on the London Stock Exchange as Morrison plc in October 1995. By this stage the £218m turnover group consisted of a number of Limited Companies, with approximately half of the annual turnover being generated by Morrison Construction Ltd (MCL).

The 1990s quality driven approach to business, working closely with clients continued and in September 2000 Morrison plc was bought by Anglian Water, and subsequently AWG plc was formed. By this stage Morrison Construction was generating approximately £500m turnover per annum with 60 per cent being in open partnering arrangements, with a significant proportion being water industry frameworks across the UK.

The established culture of working closely with its clients and having a sound reputation for consistently delivering value led to Morrison Construction being acquired by Galliford Try plc on 1st April 2006. Morrison Construction was a particularly good fit with the Galliford Try particularly in Scotland and in the water sector in the UK.

Historically Morrison Construction has been noted for delivering landmark projects such as the Falkirk Wheel, Cairngorm Funicular Railway and three major PFI Waste Water Treatment plants at Inverness/Fort William (the first water sector PFI in the UK); Tay and Moray; these having a combined construction value of £200m over a five year period.

Morrison Construction has been a leading player in the UK water industry and has successfully delivered over £220m of constructed projects to the Scottish water industry over the last decade. Currently Morrison are operating in a Consortium with Enpure, as Associate Delivery Partners on the Scottish Water Quality and Standards III investment programme.