James Lumb and James Clark were appointed Joint Administrators of PSP Architectural Ltd (‘Architectural’), PSP Aluminium Ltd (‘Aluminium’) and Pressed Steel Products Limited (‘Pressed Steel’) (together, the ‘Companies’) on 20 September 2024. The Companies are connected by virtue of common ownership and directorships.
Architectural and Aluminium operated as manufacturers to the construction sector from neighbouring sites in County Durham. The former supplied facades and cladding, while the latter supplied door and window frames made principally from aluminium. Pressed Steel operated as a property holding company, owning two freehold properties, including the Architectural site at All Saints Industrial Estate in Shildon.
Like many other companies in the construction sector, the Companies experienced trading difficulties in the last few months. Following the expected seasonal fall in sales in December 2023, sales into 2024 did not recover as expected which led to cashflow and liquidity issues. In May 2024, the Directors were able to secure additional temporary funding to support a forecast increase in sales. Unfortunately, this increase did not materialise, and the Directors resolved to appoint James Lumb and James Clark as Joint Administrators of the Companies.
Upon appointment, both the Architectural and Aluminium businesses ceased to trade, which led to the redundancy of 64 employees of Architectural and all 20 employees of Aluminium. Two employees of Architectural have been retained to assist the Joint Administrators in complying with their statutory duties.
The Joint Administrators are marketing the Architectural and Aluminium businesses for sale.
James Lumb, Managing Director at Interpath and Joint Administrator of the ‘Companies’, said: “The challenges facing the construction sector in the UK are widespread. In particular, we are seeing issues in building products where - even with positive sentiment in end user markets such as housing around government policy and reducing interest rates - there is a long lag to sales. That is exactly what happened with PSP; the business had invested heavily in state-of-the-art equipment and IT solutions but was unable to withstand soft demand in the short term.
“We are seeking buyers for the business and any interested parties should contact us as soon as possible.
“In the meantime, regrettably, the business couldn’t continue trading and redundancies were made. We have a team supporting employees impacted by the appointment and will work with them to make representations to the Redundancy Payments Services.”
