Construction of a £30m double hotel development in Torbay is to continue despite the collapse of South West construction giant Midas Group Ltd.
The Fragrance Group said its two hotel builds on Paignton Esplanade will continue after appointing Brady Construction Services Ltd to continue the work.
Progress was halted on the sites when Midas Group Ltd announced it was about to go into administration in late January 2022. The company, ninth largest in the South West, has now appointed administrators and announced 303 redundancies.
Singapore-based Fragrance Group has now taken possession of its two hotel developments on Paignton seafront with immediate effect and said it has appointed Brady to complete the project.
It said that after a three-month period of limited progress, work is expected to resume within a matter of weeks, located on the neighbouring sites of the former Park Hotel and Lighthouse Club.
Martin Rogers, the UK representative for the Fragrance Group said: “We are pleased to have appointed Brady Construction as the contractors to complete our exciting hotel projects and our aim will be to complete both hotels this year.
“Despite the difficulties that we faced, our commitment to deliver these two new hotels to the Torbay seafront, creating the much-required vibrancy to the Bay area, as well as new job opportunities, remains unchanged.”
Fpr family-run Brady Construction Services, which has offices in Bodmin in Cornwall and at the Millfields in Plymouth, it is the second time it has been appointed to complete a high-profile construction job after an administration.
The company has stepped in to complete the £13m Teesra House apartment block, at Mount Wise in Plymouth, after the collapse of South West contractor Henry W Pollard and Sons Ltd, which went into liquidation leaving debts of more than £10m.
James Brady, director of Brady Construction, said the firm was glad to now be involved with the Torbay hotels and said:: “We are thankful for the opportunity to be working with the Fragrance Group to complete these landmark projects. I am deeply saddened by the news of Midas and all those affected, and we will be working hard over the coming weeks to safeguard the employment of the existing site team and supply chain where possible”.
Concerns about the financial health of Midas surfaced when work dried up at the hotel projects in Torbay. Midas was recently ranked as the ninth largest private sector firm in the South West, by the Western Morning News Annual Business Guide 2022, with a reported turnover of £291,267,008 and 498 employees.
But rumours have been circulating in recent weeks that the company was in financial trouble, after it announced a £2m loss in 2021 - its first deficit in 40 years of trading.
The company has offices in Indian Queens in Cornwall, Exeter, Newton Abbot, Bristol, Newport in South Wales, and Southampton.
Contracts to build the Torbay hotels were signed with Midas Construction, a subsidiary of Midas Group and also in administration, in January 2020, marking the latest stage in the Fragrance Group’s multi-million-pound investment in Torbay.
The two new hotels will create more than 275 new bedrooms alongside a range of other facilities including restaurants, a gym and a spa. Once completed, both hotels will be operated by the globally renowned Accor group. The larger 161-bedroom hotel on the site of The Park Hotel will be branded as a Mercure, while the 117-bed hotel next door will be an Ibis Styles.
The Fragrance Group is investing in excess of £30m in Paignton alone, which will translate into around 100 jobs and a major boost for the economy. Torbay Council has estimated that guests at the hotels will spend almost £5m a year locally. These will be the first purpose-built hotels in Esplanade Road on Paignton seafront for more than 100 years.
