150 jobs lost as M&E contractor appoints administrators

More than 150 jobs have been lost after a building services provider collapsed into administration.

Founded in 1890, J.S. Wright & Co. specialised in HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems for the hotel, leisure, residential, student accommodation and commercial sectors nationwide.

Its sister company Wright Maintenance, was founded in 2019 and specialised in providing services to assist with the maintenance for landlords, managing agents, housing associations and care providers.

J.S. Wright & Co. was appointed as a sub-contractor to Grenfell Tower in 2014, to complete mechanical and electrical parts of a refurbishment.

Headquartered in Birmingham, the firm also had offices in London and Bristol and underwent an employee ownership transition in October 2021.

According to administrators at FRP Advisory, J.S. Wright & Co. experienced a drop in demand alongside delays to projects and payments, which left it facing cash flow pressure.

Raj Mittal and Benjamin Jones of FRP Advisory were appointed as joint administrators of J.S. Wright & Co. its sister company Wright Maintenance.

The administrators are supporting 152 employees across the two companies, while four colleagues have been retained to assist with the wind-down process.

Raj Mittal, Partner at FRP Advisory said: “The Company was a trusted contractor in the sector for many decades. Unfortunately, due to challenging trading conditions the business has been unable to meet its financial obligations and has ceased operations. Our focus now is on supporting the affected employees to file claims with the Redundancy Payments Service and realising the best possible outcomes for creditors.”