Family firm calls in liquidators after 60 years in business

A long-established Scottish construction company has entered liquidation, with 15 jobs being lost.

Stewart & Shields, a family firm based in Helensburgh on the Firth of Clyde, had been operating for over 60 years before falling victim to contract delays, rising material costs and labour-market challenges.

The company, which also had offices in Glasgow, Inverclyde and the Scottish Borders, provided building services across Scotland, delivering social-housing and local-authority projects as well as commercial, private and residential contracts.

Among its best-known work was the award-winning A’Chrannag social housing project in Rothesay, considered one of the most energy-efficient buildings in Europe when it was delivered in 2004.

It also built the Hermitage Pavilion in Helensburgh, the first commercial Passivhaus building in Scotland.

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, Stewart & Shields managed to build a strong order book, with major projects in the pipeline, according to liquidators Interpath Advisory. However, more recently the company had experienced “significant cashflow challenges”.

Despite the exhaustive efforts of the management team, the directors had no option but to cease trading and seek the appointment of provisional liquidators, Interpath said.

“The collapse of Stewart & Shields Ltd is another indicator of the challenges and economic headwinds currently facing the Scottish construction sector,” said chief executive of Interpath Advisory and joint provisional liquidator Blair Nimmo.

“The directors fought hard to save this long-standing family-run business, but the construction industry has experienced several challenges over recent years, with rising raw material costs, supply-chain disruption and labour challenges putting businesses under increased pressure.”

Head of Interpath Advisory in Scotland and fellow provisional liquidator Alistair McAlinden said the focus would now be on supporting the workers who had been made redundant, as well as the company owners.

“Our priority is to assist those members of staff who have been made redundant, providing them with the information and support they need to claim their statutory entitlements from the Redundancy Payments Office, as well as to support the owners, for whom this is also a very difficult time,” he said.

The company is one of a swathe of firms to succumb to the economic pressures on the sector. Across the UK, 38 construction companies fell into administration last month, eight more than in February and 23 more than in January – and an all-time high since Construction News started publishing monthly administrations data from Creditsafe in January 2020.

Among the casualties were Northern Ireland-based contractor William Coates, cladding firm Jessella and mechanical and electrical specialist Norstead.