York House Construction in administration

York House Construction, which has been accused of cover pricing in the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) bid-rigging scandal, has gone into administration.

York House Construction entered a notice to court for appointment of an administrator on Monday.

The firm, which was building a £5m Xcel conference centre in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, has about 90 employees who are now all facing redundancy.

No one from the company was available for comment, with the firm informing clients of its fate through an answer-phone message left at its head office in North Yorkshire.

York House Construction was named earlier this year among 112 construction companies accused by the OFT of cover pricing.

It had expected its turnover to be £45m this year, but is believed to have suffered financial difficulties in the downturn.

It had been involved in a raft of projects throughout the region, including the regeneration of Scarborough and the construction of a £1.1m Warburton’s distribution centre in Howden.

Work on the Xcel centre has been halted. Xcel Holdings director Andrew Cherrie, who commissioned the development, told the Northern Echo it was waiting to hear if it needed to find another firm to finish the job.