John Nicholls Builders in administration - loss of 80 jobs

John Nicholls Builders based in Cornwall has gone into administration. As a result its 80 employees have been made redundant.

Founded in 1962, managing director Dave Nicholls has sited the current economic downturn for a slump in workload.

Bristol-based Mazars have been appointed as administrators.

Joint administrator Tim Ball said Nicholls couldn't continue to employ the staff on its active sites across Cornwall.

Ball is reviewing the prospects for numerous part-complete contracts with a view to either a transfer or novation to other builders.

Nicholls is based in Goonhavern, Truro, and its former areas of activity included:

• Commercial and industrial
• Design and build
• Education
• Heritage work
• Hotels and leisure
• Social housing

Nicholls said the economic downturn had hit project financers, which meant a large downturn in work - not long ago the company carried 175 employees.

The big hit was felt towards the end of last year when there was a sudden drop in workload.

Nicholls said: "We had clients who had future works for us to follow through and, due to their funders not wishing to fund those further contracts, where we should have been going into another £5m-worth of work, that's suddenly stopped."

One on-going project is the £4.5m construction of 38 apartments in Newquay where the client is Hybax Developments.

Another project is a 22 holiday apartment project for Richard Walker Developments with a value of £2.5m. The scheme overlooks Treyarnon Bay.