Groundworks firm files administration notice
Fri, 05 Apr 2024 | ADMINISTRATION
Linton-based groundworks firm Bowie Construction has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators (NOI). The company was founded in 2007 and provided groundworks, road and sewer construction and paving and fencing services, operating as both principal contractor and subcontractor.
The company had recently been working on three subcontract jobs with Lovell Homes on housing work in King’s Lynn for West Norfolk Borough Council, with one of the projects recently completed.
At a meeting of the local authority last week, it was announced that the business had ceased trading. Cabinet member for business Alistair Beales said that the company was in financial distress as a result of cashflow issues arising from “a major job that wasn’t paying”.
Following Bowie’s collapse, Lovell’s Salters Road development of 78 homes is expected to be delayed by approximately five weeks, with Lovell reportedly considering conducting the groundworks itself.
However, this will not be possible at the third job, a 226-home scheme on Florence Fields, where the firm held a £12 million contract. This project is likely to face a more significant setback, with Alistair Beales saying “efforts are ongoing to resolve the situation”.
Beales added that Bowie Construction was also working for Lovell Homes on an undisclosed number of other sites across the country.
In the company’s most recent accounts, for the period from January 1 2022 to December 30 2022, it reported turnover of £14.6 million, up from £11.5 million in the year ending December 31 2021.
However, the firm's losses more than doubled from £474,601 to just under £1 million. This was attributed to cost inflation on fixed price jobs agreed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, with director Andrew Bowie predicting the company would return to profitability in 2023 and 2024.
Construction is the industry being hit hardest by the UK's rising insolvency levels
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