Breaking News: David McLean Group in administration

DAVID McLean Group, one of the UK’s largest commercial and residential development and construction companies, has today gone into administration.

Nick Edwards, Bill Dawson and Carlton Siddle of accountancy firm Deloitte have been appointed as the joint administrators.

Mr Dawson said the house building division will continue trading while a buyer is sought.

He said: “Whilst the property downturn has impacted the group’s cash flow, the land and property assets are high quality, and combined with the excellent reputation of the group, should make the house building division an attractive prospect for potential purchasers.

“The contracting division has struggled to generate a critical mass of profitable contracts, and regrettably we have had to take the decision to close that part of the business, other than retaining a significantly reduced headcount to work with customers to complete or transfer limited works on outstanding contracts.”

Back in May, the company which employs more than 300 people at its Deeside headquarters, axed 30 jobs, blaming the credit crunch.

At the time David McLean said it was looking to restructure and that the jobs would be lost across the group’s various companies.

The company’s last full-year accounts to June 30, 2007 showed a loss of £4.9m, after it suffered two hits though bad debt, and a fatal incident which stopped work on a site for 26 weeks.

Without the combined knock – which cost £6.1m – the group would have reported a pre-tax profit of £1.2m on a turnover of £250m.

In September the company formed joint venture company Langtree McLean Ltd with Haydock-based Langtree to develop Liverpool’s Garden Festival site.

The developers were planning to convert a large section of the 125-acre site to parkland while also building a residential and leisure scheme.

John Downes, managing director of Langtree Group, said: “This is disappointing news for David personally and for the many people employed within his business. They have delivered many complex projects over the years that rightly earned them a good reputation.”

Mr Downes said the news will inevitably delay progress on the joint venture but will not stop the project.

“Langtree remains absolutely committed to delivering the scheme,” he said.

“We will of course work with the administrator of David McLean Holdings to progress the scheme and until a permanent solution is found to their issue.”