{"id":883865,"date":"2026-01-10T06:11:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T12:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/10\/losses-deepen-at-glasgow-contracting-jv\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T06:11:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T12:11:53","slug":"losses-deepen-at-glasgow-contracting-jv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/10\/losses-deepen-at-glasgow-contracting-jv\/","title":{"rendered":"Losses deepen at Glasgow contracting JV"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Glasgow-based contracting joint venture City Building has seen its losses worsen amid static turnover.<\/span><\/p>\n

The business\u2019s latest audited accounts for the year to 31 March 2025 showed an operating loss of \u00a37.4m compared with a deficit of<\/span> just \u00a367,000 the year before<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Turnover fell from \u00a3154.2m to \u00a3153.3m.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the accounts, directors blamed \u201cseveral external factors\u201d for the firm\u2019s deeper losses, especially \u201cfinancial and economic challenges impacting affordability for end customers, linked to the increased cost of living\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

They also mentioned \u201cinflationary pressures over recent years, which have increased the cost of materials\u201d, as well as \u201cbudgetary pressures at a local and national level, and the regulatory environment\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

City Building is a limited liability partnership JV between Glasgow City Council (GCC) and social housing company Wheatley Housing Group.<\/span><\/p>\n

The overall profit available for division among its members rose from a restated \u00a31.3m to \u00a38.6m, the accounts showed.<\/span><\/p>\n

City Building\u2019s limited liability partnership arrangement meant that \u00a37.9m of overall profit was distributed equally between GCC and Wheatley.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cash at bank increased from \u00a39.6m to \u00a311m, and the JV held no external bank loans or overdrafts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall staff headcount fell from 1,512 to 1,442 employees, including 55 apprentices recruited during the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The contractor\u2019s annual wage bill totalled \u00a361.4m, including \u00a35.1m in redundancy payments.<\/span><\/p>\n

City Building had been in the CN100 index of top UK contractors<\/span> as recently as 2020<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since 2017, the JV has seen \u00a31bn of projects go through City Building, including the construction of five primary schools and four nurseries, as well as major upgrades to Mitchell Library, City Chambers, Kelvin Hall and Concert Hall.<\/span><\/p>\n

The operating loss of \u00a367,000 in the 12 months to 31 March 2024 was an improvement on the \u00a314.5m decline it posted the year before. <\/span>However, turnover that year dropped from \u00a3162m to \u00a3154m.<\/span><\/p>\n

City Building said it approved a new three-year business strategy last March, built \u201con the ethos of partnership working and collaboration with members, board and workforce\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The strategy reflects a \u201ccomprehensive review of governance arrangements\u201d and \u201cthe control environment in key areas such as procurement and financial management\u201d, the accounts added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Construction News <\/span><\/i>reported in August that a<\/span> whistleblower-prompted review had uncovered \u201csignificant\u201d issues<\/span><\/a> with the JV.<\/span><\/p>\n

An audit of its 2022-23 accounts had revealed \u201ca significant deficiency in respect of the overall control environment within the business\u201d, GCC said.<\/span><\/p>\n

This prompted the council to establish a partnership steering group with Wheatley to review the firm and ensure it was \u201cfit for purpose\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Referring to the new three-year strategy, City Building\u2019s latest accounts said: \u201cWith a more solid foundation now in place, the strategy provides the roadmap for the transformational change necessary to realise our vision.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At CN Intelligence you can view and filter seven years\u2019 worth of detailed financial information on the top UK construction firms via our interactive dashboards. Access in-depth written analysis of the numbers along with targeted data and analysis on specialist contractors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Ben Vogel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Glasgow-based contracting joint venture City Building has seen its losses worsen amid static turnover. The business\u2019s latest audited accounts for the year to 31 March 2025 showed an operating loss of \u00a37.4m compared with a deficit of just \u00a367,000 the year before . Turnover fell from \u00a3154.2m to \u00a3153.3m. In the accounts, directors blamed \u201cseveral<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":883866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33554,124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-883865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-deepen","category-losses"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}