The main contractor on a housing scheme based around Chester’s former lead works has gone into administration.

Steven Muncaster and Sarah Bell of Duff & Phelps Ltd were last month appointed joint administrators of Construction Partnership UK Limited (CPUK).

The company had almost finished Whitecroft Group’s revised scheme comprising 54 one and two-bedroom apartments, 15 two and three-bedroom duplex apartments and three four-bedroom townhouses.

CPUK employees had already been placed on furlough leave prior to the company entering administration due to the pandemic. There are currently no workers at the construction site in Boughton.

The Chester housing scheme, built around the 18th century shot tower, was scheduled to complete this summer. A launch event was due to have taken place in March and the first residents should have been moving in this June.

A computer generated image of Whitecroft Group's flagship residential development at the historic 18th century shot tower and former leadworks in Chester.

Homes will include double glazing, LED down-lighting, brushed steel electrical fittings, Villeroy and Boch bathroom suites, remote heating control, USB charging stations and latest security systems.

Administrators are hoping to sell CPUK, a privately-owned contractor with more than 20 years of experience, as a going concern.

Steven Muncaster, of Duff & Phelps, said: “CPUK has come under increasing pressure over the past 12 months due to a combination of factors including an increasingly competitive market and raw material price increases. The company exhausted all options in terms of finding a solution to the current financial issues, caused by a combination of problem contracts and bad debts.

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“The combined effect of these, coupled with the uncertain outlook for the construction industry in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, has caused a drain on the company’s cash reserves and it had no other option but to appoint administrators.”

Due to the current and ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the business temporarily ceased to trade and all staff were placed on furlough leave by the company prior to the administration. The employees of the company will remain on furlough leave and the joint administrators are now looking at a sale of the business and assets of the company as a going concern in the first instance.