Failures in 2023

UK construction companies that went bust in 2023

Failures in 2023: 50
In 2022: 23
Largest: Buckingham Group Contracting

50 construction companies in our register failed in 2023, against 23 in 2022. Of these, 31 were administrations, 10 were creditors' voluntary liquidations, 6 were compulsory liquidations and 3 were company voluntary arrangements.

The largest was Buckingham Group Contracting, with turnover of £665m in its last accounts. 24 were main contractors, the most of any type of business. Companies in the same group are counted separately (4 from Inland, 3 from Real and 2 from Tolent).

Failures by month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

The most in one month was 9, in October.

The biggest failures of 2023

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	Buckingham Group Contracting	Sept 2023	£665m	658	£198m
2	Henry Construction Projects	Jun 2023	£402m	49	£43m
3	Tolent Construction	Feb 2023	£198m	365	£45m
4	Michael J. Lonsdale	Oct 2023	£191m	237	£118m
5	Inland Homes	Oct 2023	£182m	138
6	J. Tomlinson	Jul 2023	£106m	460	£17m
7	Lane END Developments Construction	Apr 2023	£81m	106	£12m
8	Metnor Construction	Feb 2023	£63m	65	£10m
9	Mac-Exteriors	Jun 2023	£58m	54	£1m
10	Real Places	Nov 2023	£57m	89

Why they failed

The reasons given in the insolvency reports for the companies that failed in 2023.

Cash flow87%
Losses on contracts77%
Cost inflation63%
Delays50%
Covid-1950%
Funding withdrawn37%

Share of the 30 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

Administration31
Creditors' voluntary liquidation10
Compulsory liquidation6
Company voluntary arrangement3

By region

Where the company was based before it failed.

Every failure in 2023

Company	What happened	Date	Sector	Region
Alvstap	Creditors' voluntary liquidation	20 Dec	Developer	Greater London
Brymor Group Southern	Company voluntary arrangement	18 Dec	Housebuilder	South East England
Brenig Construction	Creditors' voluntary liquidation	11 Dec	Main contractor	North Wales
Real SWPart of Real	Creditors' voluntary liquidation	13 Nov	Developer	South East England
Real PlacesPart of Real	Creditors' voluntary liquidation	9 Nov	Housebuilder	South East England
H. B. Projects	Administration	9 Nov	Main contractor	Yorkshire and the Humber
Wellington Construction	Creditors' voluntary liquidation	9 Nov	Main contractor	East Anglia
Real LSEPart of Real	Administration	7 Nov	Developer	South East England
M Igoe	Administration	27 Oct	Civil engineering	North West England
James Killelea & Company	Administration	18 Oct	Specialist trade	North West England
Appletree Farm Cressing	Administration	5 Oct	Developer	South East England
InlandPart of Inland	Administration	5 Oct	Developer	South East England
Squibb Group	Compulsory liquidation	5 Oct	Civil engineering	East Anglia
Inland (STB)Part of Inland	Administration	5 Oct	Developer	South East England
Inland PartnershipsPart of Inland	Administration	5 Oct	Housebuilder	South East England
Inland HomesPart of Inland	Administration	4 Oct	Housebuilder	South East England
Michael J. Lonsdale	Administration	2 Oct	Specialist trade	South East England
Martin Dawn (Cheltenham)	Compulsory liquidation	18 Sept	Developer	East Anglia
Westridge Construction	Administration	15 Sept	Main contractor	South East England
Buckingham Group Contracting	Administration	4 Sept	Main contractor	South East England
A C	Administration	18 Aug	Main contractor	East Anglia
AC Data	Administration	18 Aug	Main contractor	East Anglia
Henley Homes	Administration	9 Aug	Housebuilder	Greater London
R&W Civil Engineering	Administration	24 Jul	Civil engineering	South East England
J. Tomlinson	Administration	10 Jul	Civil engineering	East Midlands
Crownfold	Creditors' voluntary liquidation	5 Jul	Civil engineering	North East England
Ilke Homes	Administration	30 Jun	Housebuilder	Yorkshire and the Humber
Mac-Exteriors	Creditors' voluntary liquidation	26 Jun	Main contractor	West Midlands
Claritas Group	Creditors' voluntary liquidation	20 Jun	Main contractor	Greater London
Henry Construction Projects	Administration	8 Jun	Main contractor	Greater London
Prime Care Solutions (Kingston)	Compulsory liquidation	24 May	Main contractor	Greater London
Shepherd Construction	Creditors' voluntary liquidation	19 May	Main contractor	Yorkshire and the Humber
Cosmur Construction (London)	Company voluntary arrangement	11 May	Main contractor	Greater London
E.H. Allingham (Construction)	Company voluntary arrangement	3 May	Main contractor	Greater London
MEC Design And Build	Compulsory liquidation	3 May	Main contractor	Greater London
Howard Russell Construction	Administration	2 May	Main contractor	North East England
Henley Construct	Administration	14 Apr	Main contractor	Greater London
Lane END Developments Construction	Administration	4 Apr	Main contractor	North West England
Synergy Property Design Consultants	Creditors' voluntary liquidation	4 Apr	Main contractor	East Anglia
Torpoint	Administration	23 Mar	Developer	Yorkshire and the Humber
ME Construction	Administration	23 Mar	Main contractor	Greater London
Norstead	Administration	28 Feb	Specialist trade	North East England
Jarvis Contracting	Administration	28 Feb	Main contractor	East Anglia
Jessella	Administration	27 Feb	Developer	East Anglia
Metnor Construction	Administration	21 Feb	Main contractor	North East England
Tolent ConstructionPart of Tolent	Administration	13 Feb	Main contractor	North East England
Tolent SolutionsPart of Tolent	Administration	13 Feb	Housebuilder	North East England
Shapoorji Pallonji UK	Compulsory liquidation	1 Feb	Main contractor	Greater London
Outco Surfacing	Administration	30 Jan	Civil engineering	Yorkshire and the Humber
Martin Dawn (Leckhampton)	Compulsory liquidation	17 Jan	Housebuilder	East Anglia

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.