Mulbury staff made redundant as administration confirmed

Advisory firm Kroll has been officially confirmed as having been appointed administrator of Cheshire-based partnerships housebuilder Mulbury Homes.

Kroll said that Andrew Knowles and Steve Clancy of Kroll were appointed joint administrators yesterday of the 12 year-old firm, which had specialised in building affordable homes for housing associations in the North west.

The developer, which reported turnover of £38.4m in its most recent accounts, employed around 40 staff, all of which have now been made redundant.

Kroll said Mulbury, founded in 2010 by Greg Mulligan and Martin Bury, had been “struggling with trading and cash flow issues brought by the pandemic, planning delays and rising costs”.

According to Mulbury’s website, it has built developments worth more than £149m since being set up, amounting to over 2,000 homes. As well as building homes for registered providers, it also set up a build to rent division in 2015.

The firm had managed to recruit the high-profile Liverpool Council commissioner and former Homes and Communities Agency regional director Deborah McLaughlin as a non-executive director.

In its latest accounts, for the period ending 31 March 2020, the firm reported pre-tax profit of just £12,000, less than half of the £27,800 posted for the previous year.

The announcement by Kroll confirms the news Mulbury was entering administration, first reported by Housing Today on Monday.

A statement from the Mulbury directors said the firm was proud of its record, and that it had built a strong pipeline of projects and had been “hopeful for the future”.

“However, we have not been immune to the very challenging conditions facing the construction sector brought by the pandemic, planning delays, cost increases and supply chain issues,” the statement said.

“We have been working tirelessly to keep the business going but the current conditions left us with no option but to call in administrators.”

“We would like to thank our staff, clients, supply chain and partners for their support to Mulbury Homes in the last 12 years.”

Andrew Knowles said the joint administrators will now work to realise assets, investigating the financial affairs of the Company, and distribute any funds to creditors. He said: “The continued difficult trading conditions, rising costs, and financial pressures as a result of bad debt has led to a weakened cashflow position which has led to the appointment of the joint administrators.”