Roadbridge UK sinks with loss of 200 jobs

Civils firm Roadbridge UK has gone into administration with the loss of more than 200 jobs.

The “vast majority” of the firm’s 215 employees have now been made redundant, administrators from Grant Thornton confirmed today.

Administrator Rob Parker said Roadbridge UK, which was based at Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, had ceased to trade after getting into financial difficulties.

He added: “The joint administrators and their team will now concentrate their efforts on supporting employees through the Redundancy Payments Service claims process during this difficult time, as well as seeking to maximise realisations from the company’s assets for the benefit of the creditors of the company.”

The Limerick-headquartered firm, which traded for over half a century, had been struggling to find an investor to rescue it after suffering serious financial difficulties, coupled with rising energy and building material costs.

One source said: “The Limerick arm had losses but parts of the UK business were actually profitable.”

Roadbridge was working on two HS2 contracts, the largest of which was for a joint venture with Tarmac that was working for an Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial and BAM Nuttall team.

It was also working as a subcontractor to the Align JV featuring Bouygues, Sir Robert McAlpine and VolkerFitzpatrick.

Other schemes it worked on included the A465 Heads of the Valley road in South Wales that was completed by Costain at the end of last year.

It was also a contractor on wind farms in Argyll and Bute and Lairg, Sutherland, and was involved in the construction of the Greenock Ocean Terminal cruise berth.