South London contractor applies for administration 

A contractor that turned over £40m five years ago has made an application for administration, while one of its sister companies has entered liquidation.

Construction News revealed in February that Henley Construct, a residential builder headquartered in Battersea, south-west London, had placed most of its staff on unpaid leave citing issues including Brexit, Covid-19 and rising costs.

Last week chief executive Tariq Usmani made an application for administration through the courts. The move needs to be ratified at court for the administration to come into effect, with a hearing set for this week.

Records show that earlier this month the contractor was also subject to a winding-up petition from Saint-Gobain Building Distribution, which claims to be a creditor. A hearing in the case is also scheduled for this week. However, the process will be scrapped if the administration comes into effect through Usmani’s application.

According to its latest published accounts, during the year ended 31 December 2021, Henley Construct directly employed 41 people and had a total of 1,100 homes “under construction or in the pipeline”.

It turned over £40.8m in 2018, but this figure had fallen to £22.9m by 2021. It made a pre-tax profit of £335,000 in its 2021 financial year.

The liquidation of Henley’s sister company Intelligent Steel Solutions, as revealed by CN two weeks ago, has also been confirmed.

The firm operated from a 3ha site in Peterlee, County Durham, providing cold-formed structural steel to construction projects.

Its services included light gauge cold-form structural steel, facade infill, load bearing structures and modular component supply.

360 Insolvency was officially appointed to the liquidation on Thursday morning, according to a notice published on the official Gazette.

A spokesperson for 360 Insolvency said Intelligent Steel Solutions’ goodwill was sold on Friday (14 April) to a company registered at Companies House as Intelligent Steel Ltd. CN revealed last month that the recently renamed entity shared directors with Intelligent Steel Solutions and Henley Construct.

It is not known whether Henley has ceased trading entirely or if the businesses will continue through different entities.

Saint-Gobain Building Distribution recently became part of the Stark Group of companies, which declined to comment on the winding-up petition.

In a letter to staff explaining the move to put them on unpaid leave earlier this year, Henley Construct chief operating officer Joseph Donkor said: “The unprecedented, combined impact of the aftermath of Brexit, Covid-19, rising costs and the onset of a recession is having a dramatic impact on the business. 

“As a result, the company is reluctantly having to take measures to mitigate the challenges on its cashflow.”