Failures in 2018

UK construction companies that went bust in 2018

Failures in 2018: 16
Largest: Carillion

16 construction companies in our register failed in 2018. Of these, 11 were compulsory liquidations, 4 were administrations and 1 was a receivership.

The largest was Carillion, with turnover of £4.4bn in its last accounts. 14 were main contractors, the most of any type of business. Companies in the same group are counted separately (9 from Carillion and 2 from Lagan).

Failures by month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

The most in one month was 6, in January.

The biggest failures of 2018

Ranked by turnover in each company's last accounts before it failed, with the largest company in each group.

#	Company	Failed	Last turnover	Staff	Owed to creditors
1	Carillion	Jan 2018	£4.4bn	31,628	£2.0bn
2	Lagan Construction Group	Mar 2018	£149m	209	£22m
3	Crummock (Scotland)	Jun 2018	£24m	196
4	Bolt And Heeks	Nov 2018	£16m	66	£5m
5	Herbert H.drew & SON	May 2018	£15m	69	£6m

Why they failed

The reasons given in the insolvency reports for the companies that failed in 2018.

Losses on contracts80%
Cash flow80%
Funding withdrawn60%
Delays40%
Legal claims40%
Accounting irregularities40%

Share of the 5 failures (each group counted once) whose insolvency reports explain why the business failed. Most give several reasons, so the shares add up to more than 100%. Each failure's page shows its own reasons and links to the report.

By type of insolvency

Compulsory liquidation11
Administration4
Receivership1

By region

Where the company was based before it failed.

Every failure in 2018

Company	What happened	Date	Sector	Region
Bolt And Heeks	Administration	28 Nov	Main contractor	East Anglia
Carillion MenaPart of Carillion	Compulsory liquidation	18 Jun	Main contractor	West Midlands
Three Valleys Healthcare	Compulsory liquidation	13 Jun	Main contractor	South East England
Crummock (Scotland)	Receivership	1 Jun	Main contractor	Scotland
Herbert H.drew & SON	Administration	3 May	Housebuilder	South East England
Churchward	Compulsory liquidation	24 Apr	Main contractor	West Midlands
Carillion SwindonPart of Carillion	Compulsory liquidation	23 Apr	Main contractor	West Midlands
Lagan Construction GroupPart of Lagan	Administration	5 Mar	Main contractor	Northern Ireland
Lagan Building ContractorsPart of Lagan	Administration	5 Mar	Main contractor	Northern Ireland
Carillion JMPart of Carillion	Compulsory liquidation	9 Feb	Main contractor	West Midlands
Carillion Utility ServicesPart of Carillion	Compulsory liquidation	26 Jan	Main contractor	West Midlands
Carillion AM GovernmentPart of Carillion	Compulsory liquidation	26 Jan	Main contractor	West Midlands
Carillion LGSPart of Carillion	Compulsory liquidation	24 Jan	Civil engineering	West Midlands
Carillion Services 2006Part of Carillion	Compulsory liquidation	15 Jan	Main contractor	West Midlands
Carillion ConstructionPart of Carillion	Compulsory liquidation	15 Jan	Main contractor	West Midlands
CarillionPart of Carillion	Compulsory liquidation	15 Jan	Main contractor	West Midlands

Other years

Our register covers larger UK construction companies (those filing full, group or medium-sized accounts) plus well-known failures, from Companies House and The Gazette. It doesn't include every insolvency: the Insolvency Service's official statistics count all construction company insolvencies, most of them small firms. Turnover comes from each company's last accounts and what was owed from the administrators' or liquidators' reports.