Leslie Keats tries to recoup money owed to creditors after £131m-turnover contractor went into administration

Quantity surveying firm Leslie Keats has been appointed to assess the value of Lancsville’s contracts, in a bid to recoup some of the money owed to creditors.

The £131m-turnover firm became the latest medium-sized victim of the recession at the end of last year. It was put into administration after it failed to repay a £10m loan given to the firm in 2008 by distressed lending specialist Agilo

Administrator at Vantis, Nick O’Reilly, said the QS firm was currently looking at the worth of the construction firm’s contracts, and was in the process of selling them on.

Meanwhile, machinery valuing firm Edward Symmons is evaluating the worth of the plant and machinery owned by Lancsville.

O’Reilly said once these assets had been sold, Vantis would calculate how much the beleaguered firm was able to pay back to its creditors.

He added that all employees of Lancsville had now been made redundant.

Lancsville had been employed as a main contractor on projects including the £28m Iylo residential scheme in Croydon and a £40m Thames Gateway mixed-use development.

Ash Pillai, project manager for Phoenix Logistics, the developer behind the Iylo project, said the development had been pushed back by at least six months following the administration of Lancsville.

“The site has been closed since before Christmas. We’re waiting to see if it’s possible for us to continue without a main contractor, and to appoint all of our existing subcontractors directly.”

Pillai said he hoped work would begin again on site by April.

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