Caddick replaces Carillion on £154m Manchester scheme

Yorkshire’s Caddick Construction has replaced Carillion as main contractor on the £154m Angel Gardens scheme in Manchester, taking on 20 employees from the collapsed firm.

Apache Capital and Moda have enlisted sister company Caddick Construction, headquartered in Knottingley, in one of the first major private contracts to be back on site within two weeks of Carillion’s liquidation.

The Angel Gardens scheme is one of the country’s biggest residential schemes outside of London and the move will save around 500 jobs on site, protecting around 30 sub-contractor companies previously working under Carillion before it entered liquidation earlier this month.

Caddick Construction will now act as construction manager and coordinate existing subcontractors across the 35 storey, 466 home build to rent (BTR) project.

Carillion started work on Angel Gardens in January 2016 after Apache Capital and Moda agreed an £85m BTR senior debt facility with Deutsche Pfandbriefbank.

Richard Jackson, managing director and co-founder of Apache Capital, said: “It was critical to Apache Capital that, as soon as we became aware of financial difficulties of Carillion in summer 2017, we implemented our contingency plans to ensure that we protected the interests of our investors and banking partner PBB. As a result, no loss of money or time will be suffered, job security is ensured to former Carillion Staff, financial security on this project is secured for our sub-contractors and onsite works have recommenced within two weeks to minimise delays and we will continue to deliver the project within budget.

“Given the adverse circumstances this is a phenomenal effort by the wider team and underpins the quality of our partnership with Moda and Caddick Construction.”

Andrew Parker, director of projects at Moda, said: “We have had contingency plans in place for some time and wanted to prioritise saving jobs, as we hugely appreciate the critical role played by the main sub-contractors and small businesses that support major projects. We have always remained close to the key sub-contractors and suppliers throughout the process and this has proved to be an essential part of the solution to keeping Angel Gardens on track.”

Adrian Dobson, commercial director at Caddick Construction said: “The fast and effective takeover of this complex project is testament to the strength and depth of our team. We are fortunate that our construction team has been able to step in and take this project forward within two weeks and are delighted that so many key Carillion employees elected to join the group, as this really strengthens our team in the North West.”