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Administration · 28 August 2025

Ardmore Construction

Main contractor · London · Greater London · Part of Ardmore

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What happened

ARDMORE CONSTRUCTION LIMITED (company number 01185592), incorporated in 1974, entered administration on 28 August 2025. Its status at Companies House is now: administration.

Why it failed

Building Safety Act liabilities and the 2024 BDW fire-safety judgment brought heavy remedial and legal spending; the company ran short of cash and a creditor threatened a winding-up petition.

  • Main reason: Legal claims
  • Cash flow

Our summary of the reasons given in the administrators' proposals. These record the administrators' and directors' account of what happened.

An administrator, a licensed insolvency practitioner, takes control of the company to try to rescue it, sell the business or get a better result for creditors than a liquidation.

Timeline

The last accounts and payment report before the failure, then what happened, with the time between each.

  1. 31 March 2022

    Last payment practices report ends: average 45 days to pay, 18% of invoices not paid to agreed terms

    18 months later

  2. 30 September 2023

    Last accounts filed were made up to this date

    23 months later

  3. 28 August 2025

    Administration started

AccountsPayment reportInsolvency

Before it failed

Key figures

Turnover in its last accounts, year to Sept 2023
£313.1m
Accounts at Companies House
Loss before tax, year to Sept 2023
£14.1m
Accounts at Companies House
Staff, year to Sept 2023
244
Accounts at Companies House
Net assets, year to Sept 2023
£12.9m
Accounts at Companies House
Average days to pay suppliers, 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022
45 days
14% paid after 60 days, 18% not paid to agreed terms
Its last payment practices report
Owed to unsecured creditors (estimated), as at 28 August 2025
£29.9m
of which trade creditors £3.4m. HMRC owed £148k. Expected return to unsecured creditors: expected, amount not yet known
Administrators' proposals (includes £15m of retentions and £10.2m owed to group companies)

The last accounts filed were full accounts made up to 30 September 2023, 23 months before it went into administration. Private companies have nine months after their year end to file, so a gap of more than 21 months usually means the next accounts were overdue, one of the warning signs worth checking for.

The full filing history, including any late filings, charges and director changes, is on Companies House.

Lessons learned report

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