Around 30 jobs have been lost following the collapse of a building facades specialist on Teesside.
Administrators were called in to Topside Group recently after the supplier to the construction industry suffered cashflow difficulties. The Billingham-based firm specialised in the design, fabrication and installation of cladding, curtain walling and balustrades among other products and operated out of a 26,000 sqft facility on Cowpen Lane Industrial Estates.
Topside had been trading more than 30 years and worked on a number of prominent buildings in the North East and further afield, including The Curve at Teesside University, the Student Services facility at Newcastle University and The Mint offices in Leeds. The firm's North East production facility also served as an outsourced centre for companies at full capacity in their own factories.
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Topside was also awarded one of the largest sub-contracts on the building of Six Centre Square - part of the regeneration of Middlesbrough's Centre Square - which is now home to insurance giant AXA. Last year the business said it had been recruiting thanks to the scheme and its other projects on its books. The firm had worked on Centre Square's first two buildings, providing the glazing and features such as the distinctive fins on Two Centre Square which appear to change colour when viewed from different angles.
Greg Whitehead of Northpoint Insolvency Practitioners, said: "The company has seen various problems similar to many others in the construction sector and in the end administration became unavoidable with cashflow a real problem. All trading activities had to cease upon administration and about 30 employees were made redundant, with a few retained to help tie up loose ends as best as possible in the circumstances.
"I am very confident though that all creditors will get a return from the administration. We have retained Leslie Keats, a specialist QS recoveries firm, to assist us with dealing with contractual matters and recoveries."
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