Former staff say they are missing wages and that hold-up has put claims for government support on ice
Failed modular housing business Modulous still hasn’t formally entered administration almost two months after it let go its employees and filed a notice of intent to do so.
The firm’s chief executive Chris Bone said on 9 January that the business would formally enter administration the next day – but nearly two weeks later paperwork still hasn’t been filed.
All 50 staff at the off-site housing firm were made redundant at the end of November and it issued a notice of intent to enter administration.
But likely administrators Opus Restructuring said it has not been appointed and the notice of intent to enter administration has been extended “a few times” according to the Insolvency and Companies List, formerly known as the Bankruptcy Court.
Two weeks ago, Bone told Building the company collapsed with approximately £4m in unpaid debts and would enter administration on 10 January.
Meanwhile, a day earlier a new company called Modulous Technologies Ltd was registered on Companies House, with Bone listed as a person of significant control.
Former employees have previously said they were not properly consulted in the run-up to being made redundant and that because the administration process hasn’t been formally started yet, they are ineligible to claim government support.
Modulous staff have also said they haven’t received their salary payments for November and that pension contributions went unpaid for the four months prior to their dismissals.
>>See also: ‘It’s been a torrid time’: Modulous boss Chris Bone on the offsite housing firm’s collapse
>>See also: Modular without the factory: Modulous’ plan to turn offsite building on its head
Started in 2018, the housing business consisted of a physical kit of parts that could be used to deliver housing, and a digital design tool called TESSA – an acronym for Tech Enabled Solutions for Sustainable Architecture – which launched in October.
Earlier this month, Bone blamed “the vagaries of the venture capital markets” for the firm’s collapse, claiming it had had £30m of pledged funding, but when one funder pulled out and the remainder stalled the business “couldn’t bridge the gap”.
Modulous was initially backed by venture capital investors including Regal London and Cemex Ventures, having raised £10m of Series A funding in September 2022. However, the company subsequently reported a loss of £9.5m, with a turnover of £91,000.
Bone is listed as the chair of another firm, Optimise Limited, registered to the same address as Modulous, which entered administration and was liquidated in 2020.
Efforts to reach Bone were not responded to by the time of going to press.
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