THE rebranding of construction group Alfred McAlpine has been blocked by a High Court judge.

Last October, the company announced it was dropping the name Alfred from its title and would be known as McAlpine.

This brought protests from Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd, which accused its rival of hijacking the family name they had shared during almost 70 years of peaceful co-existence.

Yesterday, Mr Justice Mann held that Alfred McAlpine plc, by dropping the distinguishing Alfred, was guilty of passing-off its business as that of the other company.

He granted Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd an injunction banning its rival from carrying on its business of construction, civil engineering, private finance initiative, property development and capital projects services without the addition of the name Alfred or some other adequate distinguishing name.

The court heard that the dynasty's founding father, Sir Robert McAlpine - known as Concrete Bob - started the business in 1869.

After his death in 1934, the fourth of his six sons, Alfred, formed his own company and it was agreed he would cover the North-West of England, West Midlands and North Wales, leaving the rest of the country to his father's business under the control of two other sons, Malcolm and William.

Each agreed to use the distinguishing first names.