Inflation-related costs have caused the largest main contractor in Perthshire, Scotland, to collapse.
Hadden Construction, based in Aberuthven, announced on its website yesterday (10 September) that it had entered administration. Work on its sites has stopped and 66 employees have been made redundant.
Ben Cairns and Jonny Marston from consultancy Alvarez & Marsal have taken on the administration. Cairns said he and Marston would seek an “orderly wind-down” of the firm’s operations.
Hadden battled “a number of headwinds” in recent years, including high materials prices, rising labour costs and supply chain interruptions, Cairns added.
The firm reported a pre-tax profit of £230,000 on a £30.2m turnover in its latest accounts, covering the financial year ending 31 March 2023.
Director Anne Nicol wrote at the time that although turnover and profit had returned to pre-Covid levels, pandemic aftershocks caused “slippage in programmes”, both on site and during preconstruction.
Nicol added that most of the firm’s turnover came from framework projects, two-stage tendering and partnerships, enabling it to “negotiate better terms in relation to pricing and programme risk”.
Hadden had three divisions: construction, homes, and general works, where it had picked up some RAAC remediation projects.
The firm was recently appointed to a £4m student accommodation refurbishment for the University of Stirling and a £6m traveller accommodation scheme near Perth.
It also won spots on the Scottish Procurement Alliance’s £100m refurbishment and modernisation framework and Scotland Excel’s new-build residential framework.
Hadden Construction was founded more than 30 years ago in Crieff, Perthshire. It moved to its current headquarters in 2000.
Cairns added: “We understand that today’s news is unsettling for the company’s employees and will be doing all we can to support them over the weeks ahead.”
It is unknown whether Haddon Construction’s parent company, Hadden Construction Holdings Ltd, also faces administration. However, it is still trading according to the Companies House website.
