Ardmore Administration Hits Group With 100 Staff Impact
Ardmore administration began today after mounting liabilities tied to legacy residential projects pushed the £350m construction group into court action. Major London sites were shut down this morning as the company moved through the courts, leaving around 10 projects across the capital in limbo.
London Sites Shut Down
More than 100 staff are expected to be impacted, and missed payments to staff and subcontractors are part of the fallout. Ardmore was delivering around 10 major projects across London when the business failed, including luxury hotel developments in Mayfair and Kensington, two residential tower schemes and a major life sciences laboratory campus at King’s Cross.
The affected businesses include Ardmore Major Projects, Ardmore Hotels & Commercial, Ardmore Regeneration, Ardmore Fitout and Landmark Facades. That list shows how far the pressure has spread through the group, rather than remaining inside one trading arm.
Building Safety Act 2022
Nearly a year ago, Ardmore Construction, the original contracting arm, was placed into administration. A later High Court ruling under the Building Safety Act 2022 allowed Building Liability Orders to extend defect liability beyond the original contractor to parent companies and associated businesses within the same corporate group.
Several major house builders, including Barratt, Taylor Wimpey and Bellway, are pursuing major claims against the group. Those claims sit alongside the legacy residential project liabilities now driving the current collapse, which is why the legal structure of the wider group has become as important as the sites themselves.
Wider Ardmore Group
The wider Ardmore Group has not entered into administration. Instead, it has applied to enter a moratorium process that will allow it to keep trading while its position is reviewed.
For staff, subcontractors and clients waiting on live London work, the immediate issue is who finishes the projects and who absorbs the unpaid bills. The administrators now have to decide whether any of the affected businesses can be sold, restructured or wound down while the wider group keeps operating under the moratorium.
