South West contractor goes under

A Dorset building contractor has filed for administration after being hit by rising costs and a contract dispute.

Dorchester-based Acheson Construction appointed administrators from Grant Thornton last Tuesday (18 February) with 40 of its 48 employees made immediately redundant.

A statement from Grant Thornton’s Richard Lewis said: “The business has been impacted by increased costs on fixed-price contracts, delays in the commencement of new projects and a dispute over amounts due under a key contract.

“Whilst the directors had considered alternative options, they sadly concluded it was no longer viable to continue to trade.”

Acheson Construction was established in 1976 as a refurbishment and restoration specialist for heritage buildings.

The firm subsequently expanded operations to focus on new-build work in the education, industrial, commercial, residential and care sectors.

In its latest filed accounts, for the year ended 29 December 2023, the company posted a £53.6m turnover, up from £48.3m in its prior year.

It had undergone rapid growth in its last few years, with turnover rising from just £23.5m in 2018.

In 2023 it returned a pre-tax profit of £45,996, marking an improvement on the £477,276 loss incurred in 2022.

But the accounts cited “price inflation and subcontractor insolvencies which have severely impacted performance”.

In a statement with the accounts, Acheson Construction managing director Marcus Drysdale said: “Despite the challenging market conditions, in the period, we have delivered several high-profile, quality projects in a range of sectors and for a variety of clients.

“We continue to see strong performance in the care sector and expect this to continue with a high number of repeat projects for major providers in the sector.”

Repeat clients for the firm included care home operator Barchester Healthcare.

Acheson Construction had also landed places on frameworks for Aster Homes and Sovereign Network Group during the period covered by its last results.

As of 29 December 2023, the firm owed creditors a total of £12.8m that was due within one year, although it held no bank loans.

In 2023, the company employed a monthly average of 88 people.

Grant Thornton said the eight remaining Acheson Construction employees would be retained to help wind down the company’s affairs.

Lewis added: “Our efforts are initially focussed on supporting employees with making claims to the Redundancy Payments Service, securing physical assets and gathering information and evidence to support any claims the company has under contracts including in relation to retentions.”