In 1902 James Nuttall took his two sons Edmund and James into partnership trading under the name Edmund Nuttall & Company. In 1904 James Nuttall died and the business was carried on and rapidly developed by his son Edmund who was a contractor down to his fingertips with a natural flair for assessing the price of a job and the right way to carry it out.

In 1908 they built the Royal Liver Building, Liverpool the first reinforced concrete ‘Sky-scraper’ built in Britain, 300 feet high to the top of the Liver Birds.

In 1925 Edmund Nuttall secured the contract for the pilot headings of the Mersey Tunnel and eventually carried out the greater part of the civil engineering work.

This contract lasted six years and nearly £4 million in value proved a turning point in the history of the company whereby it grew up from a middling sized firm operating mainly in the North of England to its present stature as one of the major civil engineering contractors in the United Kingdom and of international repute.

1931 Edmund Nuttall & Company began work on King George V Dry Dock Southampton, at the time of construction it was the largest Graving Dock in the world.

In 1935 the company moved to Westminster and business was transferred to the operating company, Edmund Nuttall, Sons & Co Ltd. During the years between the move and the outbreak of the Second World War took its full part in the rearmament programme, on the construction of Ordnance Factories, Underground Magazines and other war establishments.

The firm was employed at full stretch during the war as one of the main organising contractors for the defence works rapidly put up in 1940 when invasion was expected.

In 1945 Edmund Nuttall, Sons & Co Ltd began construction of Ipswich Power Station which was one of the first to be completed after the war.

The Claerwen Dam was started in 1946 and was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II on 23rd October 1952. It was one of her first royal engagements.

In 1957 Edmund Nuttall was awarded the main contract for The Dartford Tunnel a pilot tunnel had been driven before the Second World War but no further progress was made until 1957.

In 1962 work began on The Tyne Tunnel, this was the largest underground tunnel to be built since Edmund Nuttall completed the Mersey Tunnel more than thirty years earlier.

The New Mersey Tunnels were started in 1967 when the original tunnel became inadequate for the traffic it generated, once again this important work was entrusted to Edmund Nuttall.

1972 saw a joint venture, equal partnership between Edmund Nuttall, Guy F. Atkinson co., Balfour Beatty & Co. Ltd and Taylor Woodrow Construction Ltd to form Cross Channel Contractors. In 1973 Cross Channel Contractors were awarded Phase II Works on the Channel Tunnel.

In 1978 the company was bought by Hollandsche Beton Groep (later HBG). 1980 Edmund Nuttall built the first post-tensioned concrete road bridge to be constructed over the River Tyne, The New Redheugh Bridge.

In 1979 Nuttall acquires Mears followed by Hynes Construction in 1992, John Martin Construction in 1999 and Finchpalm Ltd in 2000.

In 2002 HBG was acquired by Royal BAM Group.

More recently BAM Nuttall has been involved in enabling works for the 2012 Olympics, the upgrade of Neasden Depot, the largest depot on the London Underground network and in the construction of the Lakeside Energy from Waste Plant in Colnbrook.