Administrations

Construction insolvencies are expected to remain high until the impact of the new government’s plans for homes and infrastructure is felt, commentators have said. New figures released today (19 July) show that construction remained the worst-hit sector for insolvencies in the year to May 2024, as in April. This was…

Blenheim House Construction has applied to enter administration after 28 years of trading.  The Surrey-headquartered contractor turned over £86.6m and employed an average of 84 staff in the year to 30 April 2023. It specialises in refurbishment but has also built new housing, education and leisure facilities, and office buildings. …

Charles Henshaw & Sons has filed for administration after 120 years of trading. Directors of the Edinburgh-based envelope specialist blamed issues with legacy contracts and main contractor delays on new project starts for causing it to become loss-making. Administrator Shona Campbell at Henderson Loggie is seeking a buyer for the…

Willmott Dixon has suffered a second successive loss after the collapse of a major mechanical and electrical (M&E) subcontractor cost it £12.8m. Willmott Dixon did not name the subcontractor but said it had been completing works on two unnamed projects when it went under last year, adding that the insolvency…

Henry Construction Projects is likely to end up in voluntary liquidation but it is unclear how much money unsecured creditors may receive, a new report has said. In a 4 July progress report, joint administrators David Hudson and Geoffrey Rowley from FRP Advisory said they expected the collapsed contractor to…

The volume of construction administrations has increased for the second consecutive month, Creditsafe data shows. A total of 31 businesses went into administration in June, compared with 24 in May and just 13 in April. Despite the uptick, the figure of 68 failures for the second quarter (Q2) of 2024…

Ex-Osborne directors have blamed the 2022 Liz Truss mini-budget for problems with the firm’s build-to-rent development business, a new report reveals. Leaders at the company said in April when the company filed for administration that its problems were caused by high inflation, the lingering impacts of Covid and Brexit, and…

Stevenage-based contractor ARJ Construction owed its subcontractors and supply chain £12.5m when it went under last month. Documents released by administrator FRP Advisory reveal that when it went under ARJ owed subcontractors £4.9m and the wider supply chain £7.6m. It also owed £940,000 to its former employees in redundancy and…

A roofing contractor in Bristol has gone into administration. Davis Roofing Ltd was established in 2006 and employed a monthly average of 40 staff, according to its most recent published set of accounts, covering the 12 months to 31 March 2023. The firm had a place on two lots in…

Construction was the worst hit industry for insolvencies in the year to April 2024, the Insolvency Service has revealed. Some 4,401 construction companies in England and Wales registered as insolvent in the period – 18 per cent of all businesses to do so. The figure is almost 500 more than…