Athletes' Village builders eye halted P Elliott block

Contractors working on the Olympics Athletes’ Village site may be in line to take over works from P Elliott after work on the block it was building was halted.

Irish-owned P Elliot, which was building the N14 tower block, was placed into receivership yesterday.

The ODA are now understood to be considering the appointment of a contractor from the four other firms working on the Village.

Lend Lease is overseeing the whole village construction, as well as directly building five of the Village’s 11 blocks. Galliford Try is building N13 and N26,  John Sisk N9 and N10, and Ardmore is constructing N2. An ODA source said: “One of the other contractors or Lend Lease could take over the site. We’re obviously looking at these options now.”

News of P Elliott’s receivership follows the submission of a number of petitions from trade creditors in Ireland seeking the winding up of the firm.

On Monday legal action against the firm was taken by recruitment firm MCR Personnel, trading as the MCR Group, which claimed it is owed €1.8m by the construction firm.

A spokesperson for the ODA said: “With the contractor P Elliott entering receivership last night, their construction plot in the Olympic Village site is now in the hands of the receivers and work has temporarily stopped on this specific plot only.

“As a matter of priority we are working with Lend Lease and the receivers to keep the workers affected briefed on the situation and to also discuss arrangements for the workers to resume work on site under alternative site management.

“This issue relates to only one of the 11 residential plots in the Village - construction work across the wider Village site remains unaffected and firmly on track.”