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Howard Smith and David Costley-Wood were appointed joint administrators of Cruden Group Limited, Cruden Construction Limited and Cruden Property Services Limited on Friday 31st July 2020.
Based near Warrington and employing 126 people, Cruden operated within the construction and property services sectors predominantly across the northwest of England.
Approximately 100 of these were made redundant on appointment of administrators, with the remaining staff being retained to support the wind down of the business. Agents have been appointed to realise value in the group’s construction and maintenance contracts, alongside other tangible assets including a freehold property.
The administrators issued a statement saying that the directors decided to place the company into administration on the back of losses on a number of contracts and additional costs caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, due to contract delays.
Howard Smith, associate partner at KPMG and joint administrator, said: “While trading had been challenging for some time, the impact of COVID-19 was the final straw. Discussions to sell the business did not progress, leaving no option but to close.
“Our priority over the days ahead is to support those members of staff who have been affected by redundancy, providing them with any assistance they need.”
It was ony a couple of weeks before the end came that Cruden Construction was appointed to complete the building of a £19m Belong care village in Birkdale after the original contractor, Pochin's, went under.
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