BUILDING GIANT GOES BUST
200 JOBS LOST AS FIRM BEHIND KEY PROJECTS ENTERS ADMINISTRATION
EMPTY parking bays, locked doors and 200 people without a job.
This is what remains after major construction firm Bardsley entered into administration yesterday.
The Tameside-based contractor was due to complete a number of major Manchester city centre projects, including residential projects at Meadowside and Blossom Street. But as of Thursday afternoon, sites were closed and staff were told to go home.
Just five days before Christmas, hundreds of employees have now been told they are out of a job – and some say they haven’t been paid.
One sub-contractor, who wished to remain anonymous, told the M.E.N. his box of tools worth thousands of pounds was still locked on a site in Fallowfield.
The worker added: “I was due to be working on this site for six months after Christmas.
“Now I’ve got tools worth thousands of pounds locked on site, and no job to see me through at Christmas.”
Bardsley Group Ltd cited ‘challenging market conditions’ and ‘uncertainty in the political and economic environment’ for the company’s collapse.
A source told the M.E.N. that the primary issues for Bardsley were delays in payment from a number of projects, which led to cash flow problems. The source said: “This had been on the cards for months.”
Administrator Duff and Phelps confirmed that all 200 staff, including around 80 sub-contractors, had been fully paid for December. But some selfemployed staff say they are still owed money by the firm.
A sub-contractor, who didn’t want to be named, said he was still owed £4,000 from Bardsley Construction.
“Yesterday I had been working as normal and about 1pm my site manager received a call from the main office to just shut the site,” he said. “This morning there was a meeting but I wasn’t invited. I went along anyway but the entrance was guarded by security.
“I just wanted to find out if I was going to be paid before Christmas.
“Full-time employees have been paid but sub-contractors have not. I’m owed about £4,000.
“I have got two kids and a wife and we were meant to go on holiday to Spain tomorrow but can’t as I have no money.”
Bardsley was one of three contractors appointed to deliver the £200m Meadowside residential development on the edge of the city centre. The 12-storey block Mount Yard was due for completion in summer 2020.
The M.E.N. understands another contractor will be lined up to finish the job, although the completion date is likely to be pushed back.
Only last month, Bardsley was awarded the contract for a £11m skills centre at Tameside College.
The contractor was also responsible for a number of residential projects in Fallowfield, Gorton and Sale.
Steven Muncaster, joint administrator, said: “We were formally engaged in November 2019 to advise the group on its current financial position and to facilitate an accelerated merger and acquisition process or seek immediate investment to tide the group over into 2020, when a number of new orders are expected to come online. Despite a number of expressions of interest, no acceptable formal offers have been made for the group, leaving the directors with no option but to appoint administrators. The companies normally shut down over the Christmas period and as such this timing will enable us to undertake a further review of the financial position of the group while marketing the business and assets for sale. We will be working solidly over the holiday period to facilitate this.”