Historic construction firm went under owing £9m

Wildgoose Construction, the historic family-owned Alfreton business, owed £9m to creditors when administrators were called in lat last year.

Founded in Matlock, Derbyshire in 1896 and now based in Alfreton, the fourth-generation family-owned business, went under in November blaming rising raw material prices, supply chain disruption and labour shortages, which resulted in many of its fixed-price contracts becoming loss-making.

Some 700 firms look set to be left out of pocket after administrators from Interpath Advisory calculated that just £500,000 will be available to distribute between creditors.

Some 46 members of staff have been made redundant immediately after administrators were called in.

Last November, Jonathan Wildgoose, chairman of Wildgoose Construction, said: “In light of the multiple challenges being faced by the business, our efforts since the commencement of the pandemic have focused on exploring all possible options in an effort to secure a solution which would have safeguarded the future viability of the business. It is with great sadness that we had no alternative but to cease to trade and take the necessary steps to place the company into administration. On behalf of all of the directors, I would like to place on record our thanks for the huge efforts of our employee base and all other stakeholders.”