Cornhill Interiors in administration

Twenty-one people have been made redundant as parts of the Cornhill Construction Group were placed into administration this week.

Two subsidiary firms - Cornhill Interiors and Cornhill Retail - are now in the hands of administrator Tenon Recovery.

Tenon said the group suffered from cash flow issues and in recent weeks had been experiencing increasing pressure from creditors.

The board instructed Tenon to carry out a full review and following advice that urgent protection must be sought, the directors placed the relevant parts of the group into administration.

Administrator, Colin Wilson of Tenon Recovery, said: "The group will endeavour to   continue with all client contracts while seeking a sale of the business.  We have already been speaking to a number of well known parties in the construction industry that have shown strong interest and we are hopeful of deal in the coming weeks."

The 21 redundancies leave 41 staff to maintain the goodwill of the contracts. 

The group was rebranded late last year following rapid expansion which saw it named as one of the industry's fastest growing construction businesses.

Chief executive Peter Kilby said at the time: "The Cornhill Construction Group has changed out of all recognition over the last few years.

"It is fitting that our market-leading reputation is reflected in a new corporate logo that better represents our modernity and even in these bleak economic times, confidence in our future"

Latest reports filed at Companies House show that the Cornhill Group made a pre-tax profit of £208,000 on turnover of £19.4m for the year to March 2008.

The Directors' Report stated: "With the addition of new businesses and the strong growth of the existing businesses, the group's turnover is likely to increses substantially over the next three years and this is supported by the high level of secured turnover for 2008/2009.

"The group continues to exploit its expertise in the specialist contracting market and, with the potential to grow new business units and the overall brand, future growth in turnover and profitability is expected to be excellent."