A well-known Liverpool building company with debts of £5.9m is set to be dissolved.
Crossfield Construction is now in liquidation and law firm Begbies Traynor has been appointed to manage the company's affairs. Crossfield Construction is the building arm of Liverpool's Crossfield Group.
Founder David Cain has told the ECHO that the decision to place Crossfield Construction into liquidation was due to 'external factors.' Mr Cain said job losses could be avoided if the parent company Crossfield Group Ltd secured the 'right funding.'
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Crossfield Construction is the latest in a string of medium sized building firms that have collapsed. Industry observers have pointed to the rising cost of materials and the pandemic which have reduced profit margins for many firms.
A statement of affairs posted on Companies House has revealed that the company owes £5, 908, 522 to creditors. The company owes £1,111,990 to the NatWest bank.
In his notes Mr Cain explains that the company borrowed £1m from the NatWest in the form of a Coronavirus Business Interruption loan. The company has re-paid £166,666 so far.
In his notes Mr Cain explains that the NatWest has security on the loan in the form of a mortgage debenture, against the company.
Crossfield Construction also owes large sums of money to companies within the Crossfield Group. Crossfield Construction owes £920,919 to parent company Crossfield Group Ltd. And the firm owes £910,651 to Crossfield Living Limited.
Last year the ECHO reported how Sefton Council 'terminated' Crossfield Construction's contract to refurbish Crosby Lakeside Adventure Centre. Crossfield had a £2.2 million deal to remodel and extend the adventure centre.
The local authority cited "unacceptable delays and failure to satisfactorily progress."
Mr Cain is also a director of Crossfield Exclusive Development, a separate company behind plans to build a 202 room hotel in the trendy Baltic Triangle area of the city. The nine storey development will be situated on Norfolk Street and will be built on the site of the former Liver Grease Oil and Chemical Company.
Mr Cain said to the ECHO: "After an extremely challenging few years due to external factors such as the pandemic and many of our schemes being delayed due to planning, we have taken the difficult decision to put our construction division into liquidation. We are working closely with the liquidators on this matter.
"We hope to avoid job losses by securing funding to move the business forward."
