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Willmott Dixon puts housing subsidiary into administration

A subsidiary of large national contractor Willmott Dixon, which was involved in the construction of numerous developments for social housing landlords, has been placed into administration.

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Bridport House in Hackney, London, was built by WPHV (photo: Google Street View)
Bridport House in Hackney, London, was built by WPHV (photo: Google Street View)
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A subsidiary of large national contractor Willmott Dixon, which was involved in the construction of numerous developments for social housing landlords, has been placed into administration #UKhousing

WPHV, which was formerly known as Wilmott Dixon Partnership Homes, was put into administration on 22 December.

The business was previously Willmott Dixon’s primary residential arm. It posted a turnover £213m in 2016 and delivered a number of projects for local authorities and housing associations.

However, its parent company took the decision to stop it from taking on new business in the 2017/18 financial year.

Insolvency service Azets has now been appointed to oversee the administration of WPHV. A spokesperson for the administrator said WPHV had been winding down its operations for the past four years ahead of what was always intended to be an eventual dissolution.

WPHV’s 2016 accounts, which were published in July 2017, made no mention of the winding down or transferring business. In the accounts for the subsequent year, published in July 2018, WPHV said that it had made the decision to integrate its future residential activity into Willmott Dixon Construction. The contractor said the decision was taken to meet the desire of shared customers to consolidate activity through a single entity and recognise the mixed-use and complex schemes.


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Following the Grenfell Tower fire and the subsequent changes to building regulations, there have been a number of claims against contractors and developers over building defects and fire safety issues: in common with others, there are currently such claims against WPHV from clients. Inside Housing understands social housing clients are among the claimants, and according to the last accounts posted for the year ending 31 December 2019, WPHV had set aside a provision of £5.8m for potential cladding related issues on completed contracts. The firm said this took into account established contractual obligations and estimates to finish work, as well as where costs would be covered by insurers.

Inside Housing has seen evidence of some lawyers sending out correspondence to clients with potential claims against WPHV, instructing them to bring their claims to the attention of WPHV’s administrators and to seek details of WPHV’s insurance position and confirm insurers have been notified as it might be possible to claim directly from them.

For those clients that have made claims against a contractor and have outstanding claims, if successful, claimants may be able to recover cash through insurers or collateral warranties or a parent company guarantee. However, in some cases claimants will become creditors and may only receive a percentage of what they are owed. New legal claims cannot be brought against a dissolved company. There is no suggestion WPHV has been put into administration to avoid these claims.

Inside Housing understands that Willmott Dixon has said it will support customers in rectifying legitimate concerns from contracts previously undertaken by WPHV and will also support supply chain partners receiving any retention monies that remain outstanding.

A spokesperson for the organisation said: “WPHV ceased taking on new business over four years ago and has since been winding down its activity ahead of what was always intended to be an eventual dissolution. In this instance, as a company with a relatively long trading history, third-party specialist advisors have recommended that administration is the preferred closure route for all interested parties.”

Launched in 1974, it was building nearly 2,000 homes a year for private and public sector clients and had a turnover of £213m in 2016 and posted profits of £6m.

However, since the Grenfell Tower fire, some of the blocks built by WPHV have required remedial works as a result of the changing post-Grenfell legislation.

In 2019, Inside Housing reported that residents in 50 homes in association Catalyst’s Merle Court block in South Kilburn had to be decanted from their blocks due to work needing to be carried out fix a series of fire safety issues.

The building, built by WPHV, required two years worth of work according to the landlord. The contractor also built L&Q’s Arch Street development in Elephant & Castle, where residents were also forced to move out of the 54-home development as work, including replacing the cladding, was carried out.

Inside Housing is not aware of any claim against Willmott Dixon on either of these schemes.

The company was also the builder responsible for the Bridport House development in Hackney, where the council decided to decant 41 residents from the block after defective insulation needed to be replaced. In March 2019, a piece of one of the balconies also fell from the second floor. The remediation project on the block was worth £6m. Hackney Council said in 2019 that it was considering legal action against WPHV, although the builder said no legal action had been brought and the two parties remain in dialogue.

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