Failures in 2021

UK construction companies that went bust in 2021

Failures in 2021: 13
In 2020: 10
Largest: NMCN

13 construction companies in our register failed in 2021, against 10 in 2020. Of these, 9 were administrations, 2 were creditors' voluntary liquidations, 1 was a compulsory liquidation and 1 was a company voluntary arrangement.

The largest was NMCN, with turnover of £405m in its last accounts. 4 were main contractors, the most of any type of business. Companies in the same group are counted separately (2 from NMCN).

Failures by month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

The most in one month was 3, in July.

The biggest failures of 2021

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	NMCN	Oct 2021	£405m	1,789	£61m
2	WRW Construction	Jul 2021	£64m	143	£9mto lenders
3	O'Keefe Construction (Greenwich)	Sept 2021	£61m	178	£13m
4	Wildgoose Construction	Nov 2021	£53m	96	£10m
5	Cleveland Bridge UK	Jul 2021	£48m	250	£15m
6	Beaumont Morgan Developments	Nov 2021	£47m	61	£8m
7	Nobles Construction	Jun 2021	£25m		£6m
8	Henry W. Pollard & Sons	Jul 2021	£24m	41	£9m
9	Minster Developments	Oct 2021	£18m		£6m
10	Countesswells Development	Nov 2021	£14m		£87mto lenders

Why they failed

The reasons given in the insolvency reports for the companies that failed in 2021.

Covid-1990%
Cash flow80%
Clients not paying or failing60%
Delays60%
Funding withdrawn50%
Losses on contracts40%

Share of the 10 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

Administration9
Creditors' voluntary liquidation2
Compulsory liquidation1
Company voluntary arrangement1

By region

Where the company was based before it failed.

Every failure in 2021

Company	What happened	Date	Sector	Region
High Street GRP	Administration	16 Dec	Developer	North East England
Beaumont Morgan Developments	Compulsory liquidation	23 Nov	Housebuilder	North West England
Countesswells Development	Administration	23 Nov	Housebuilder	South East England
Wildgoose Construction	Administration	2 Nov	Main contractor	East Midlands
Minster Developments	Creditors' voluntary liquidation	13 Oct	Developer	East Midlands
NMCN Sustainable SolutionsPart of NMCN	Administration	6 Oct	Civil engineering	East Midlands
NMCNPart of NMCN	Administration	6 Oct	Civil engineering	East Midlands
O'Keefe Construction (Greenwich)	Company voluntary arrangement	8 Sept	Main contractor	South East England
Cleveland Bridge UK	Administration	22 Jul	Specialist trade	North East England
WRW Construction	Administration	12 Jul	Main contractor	South Wales
Henry W. Pollard & Sons	Creditors' voluntary liquidation	8 Jul	Developer	South West England
Nobles Construction	Administration	24 Jun	Main contractor	North West England
Hackwood Homes	Administration	4 Mar	Housebuilder	South East England

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.