Building services firm MJN Colston enters administration

THE current difficulties facing the construction sector have been highlighted again with the news that building services contractor MJN Colston has gone into administration.

Some 148 workers have been made redundant but the administrators – from accountancy firm Deloitte – are planning to keep the firm trading while a buyer is sought.

Only four months ago the firm was celebrating after being named part of the construction team involved in the new £430m superhospital planned for Bristol.
The firm is headquartered in Stockton on Tees in the North East but has a local operation based in Coventry. Its other bases are in Gateshead, Blackburn, Bury St Edmunds, Croydon, Bristol, Bridgend and Exeter. MJN Colston employed 420 people before the redundancies were announced.

Daniel Butters and Matt Cowlishaw, partners at Deloitte, have been appointed joint administrators to the firm which provides mechanical and electrical engineering services for public and private sector clients in the commercial and industrial markets.

Butters said: “Our appointment follows a strategic review of MJN Colston Limited’s financial position. We intend to trade the business in the short-term with a view to selling and novating the contracts to other providers. 

“We will continue to work with the company’s suppliers and customers and will seek to find a buyer for the business and assets to minimise disruption.”