Student apartments developer goes into administration

The developer of the 252-student apartment block The Quadrant in Liverpool has gone into administration.

Paul Flint and Paul Dumbell from KPMG’s restructuring team have been appointed joint administrators of Pinnacle Student Developments (Liverpool), registered in Manchester.

Pinnacle was a special purpose vehicle for the development of the building on Shaw Street, and as such had no direct employees.

The apartments were sold off-plan to individual investors, the majority of whom are based overseas.

Deposits were taken on exchange of those sales, which were held by a buyers’ company, Quadrant Buyers (Liverpool) Ltd. These were used to fund the company’s development of The Quadrant, on behalf of the buyers’ company.

However, building work on site ceased following the administration of the main building contractor, PHD1 Construction, on April 1, 2016.

With insufficient funds available to complete the build and with no development finance strategy available that was to the satisfaction of all stakeholders, the building has remained unfinished.

Flint, who is also associate partner at KPMG, said: “With work on site being at a standstill for more than 18 months, and with no development finance options available, the creditors had no alternative but to petition to place the company into administration.

“During the coming days and weeks, we will be exploring the options that are available to maximise the return to the buyers’ company and other creditors.”