25 jobs lost as construction business falls into administration

Yorkshire-based construction firm, Harris CM Limited, has gone into administration and its 25 employees made redundant.

RSM Restructuring Advisory LLP was instructed by the Directors of Harris CM to place the company into administration, and Jamie Miller and Gareth Harris were appointed as joint administrators on 12 August 2022.

Harris CM delivered a range of projects predominantly in the Yorkshire area.

At the date of appointment, it was actively working on nine sites and employed 25 staff directly, alongside a large number of contractors.

All the sites were closed about one week prior to the administration appointment. All employee claims will be dealt with by the Redundancy Payments Service (RPS) with assistance from the joint administrators.

Jamie Miller, RSM Restructuring advisory partner and joint administrator, said: “The company has been faced with a combination of significant financial challenges, in particular the spiralling costs of raw materials and an inability to pass these on to customers due to fixed price contracts.

“Despite the best efforts of the management team, the accumulated losses from these contracts have unfortunately led to the ultimate cessation of trade of the company.

“This is another example of the wide-ranging challenges facing the construction sector at present.

“The joint administrators and the directors are trying to work with customers to ensure a smooth handover of the existing sites to alternative contractors.”

Jason Adlam, Harris CM chief executive, said: “It is with great sadness that after 15 successful years we have had to take the difficult decision to close and place the company into administration.

“We have worked phenomenally hard to get through both the Covid related impact and also deal with the recent well-known issues in the construction sector, but a combination of recent contract issues has ultimately meant we can no longer see a way to continue.

“Wherever possible we will do our utmost to work with customers to ensure a handover of the sites. We are confident our excellent staff will find new roles and wish them all the best of luck.”

All enquiries from sub-contractors and creditors, should be directed to restructuring.leeds@rsmuk.com