90 jobs lost as £18m turnover civil engineering is placed into administration

SOME 90 jobs have been lost at £18m turnnover civil engineering firm Moulding Contracts Ltd, which has a site at Astley, near Wigan, after it was placed into administration by the High Court in Manchester.

This follows the failure of attempts to find a buyer and additional funding support.

As well as the Greater Manchester site, the company also operated from sites in County Durham and Oxfordshire.

The High Court has appointed Mark Getliffe and Diane Hill, of CLB Coopers in Manchester, as joint administrators.
 
Getliffe said: “Moulding Contracts will complete some specific contracts but there is no prospect of it continuing to trade as a going concern. The workforce was already in a redundancy consultation.”

Getliffe, said that “there is every prospect of creditors being paid a distribution.  The expectation is that we will be able to distribute funds back to creditors in 2017. A plan has been agreed to effect this and creditors will be consulted early in the New Year.”  

Moulding Contracts was formed in 1950 as a family-run plant hire firm in the North West and grew into a major service provider for the quarrying and brick making industries throughout the Midlands and the North. In 1996, following the success of a number of joint venture projects, the company merged with a North East regional landfill engineering specialist and the company name was changed to Moulding Contracts Ltd.

The employees affected include ground-workers, site agents, site engineers, and plant operators.
 
“It’s unwelcome to see people lose their jobs at any time of year but there is a chronic shortage of these skills across civil engineering and construction, so it’s our hope and belief that the workforce will be able to find alternative employment,” added Getliffe.