Fri, 26 Feb 2021 | BUSINESS NEWS
Brickwork firm Irvine-Whitlock, a subsidiary of building materials giant Hanson, is to close down after almost 60 years of trading.
The Bedford-based company was founded in 1963 and was a specialist in general building, brickwork, design engineering, block-work, natural and reconstituted stonework and terracotta and stone rain screen systems.
It also provided services such as on-site management, quality control, design, specification and programming and had worked on numerous high-profile developments, including the Emirates Stadium in London, St Pancras International and the British Library Conservation Centre.
The company, which employed around 60 staff, was acquired by Hanson in 2007, as the group sought to unite brick supply and brick laying services under one business.
However, Irvine-Whitlock had become loss-making in recent years, going from a post-tax profit of £168,533 in 2017, to a loss of £1.2 million in 2018, before registering losses of £5,634 on turnover of close to £16 million in its most recent accounts for 2019.
Hanson strategy and development director Matt Barlow commented: We have made the difficult decision to close Irvine-Whitlock, one of our non-core businesses. In the short-term, the specialist building contractor will complete outstanding existing contractual obligations, but no new business will be progressed.”
“The closure will result in redundancies among the Irvine-Whitlock team and we have already been liaising and working with those affected to find them alternative employment in the sector.”
Meanwhile, Derbyshire-based masonry contractor Phoenix Brickwork has moved to hire six of Irvine-Whitlock’s project managers and quantity surveyors, as it looks to expand into the collapsed firm’s former markets.
For more on how sectors like construction are being impacted by the UK's widespread business distress, check out these recent BSR pieces:
One-third of UK businesses close to running out of cash
620,000 SMEs in financial distress, new study reveals
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