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Homes England in talks with Stewart Milne’s administrators
Homes England is in talks with Stewart Milne’s administrators over the hope of “continued delivery” of development sites in North West England operated by a subsidiary of the collapsed house builder.
Aberdeen-based Stewart Milne Group fell into administration yesterday, which led to the immediate loss of 217 jobs.
As a result, the privately owned company has ceased trading with immediate effect and no further building work is taking place.
However one of the group’s subsidiaries, Manchester-based Stewart Milne Homes North West England (Developments) Limited, is not yet currently in administration.
Administrators Teneo said the group’s active sites in North West England are held by the arm, which has a “separate funding structure”. A total of 58 staff have been retained for the division.
However, a Homes England spokesperson said the English subsidiary of Stewart Milne it works with is “likely to follow later this week” into administration.
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“Our immediate priority is to work with the administrator to support the continued delivery where possible of those housing developments we’re involved in,” the spokesperson added.
A statement from Teneo said: “The strategy is being discussed with Homes England and there should be more clarity by the end of the week.”
The wider Stewart Milne Group was put for sale last summer, but failed to attract a buyer. Teneo said a more recent sale process in May last year had also failed, while “options to restructure the group were ultimately not viable”.
Adele MacLeod, a director of Teneo in Scotland, said: “The downturn in the UK housing market combined with an extensive sales process not resulting in any viable offers has ultimately led to the need for the directors to place Stewart Milne Group Limited and some of its subsidiaries into administration, regretfully with some immediate redundancies.
“We continue to assess all the options in respect of the group’s Scottish development sites and encourage any party with an interest to get in touch.”
The group was operating more than 35 housing developments across the North East of Scotland, Central Scotland and North West England, according to its LinkedIn page.
An extra 54 staff have been retained by the wider group but only to help with the wind-down of the business, Teneo said.
Stewart Milne Homes North West England, which controls Stewart Milne Homes North West England (Developments) Limited, is also in administration, according to Teneo.
Five other subsidiaries of the Stewart Milne Group have also been placed in administration. These are: Stewart Milne Homes Central Scotland Limited, Stewart Milne Central Scotland (Developments) Limited, Stewart Milne (Arbroath) Limited, Stewart Milne Homes (Auchterarder) Limited and Stewart Milne Homes (Kirkton) Limited.
In its last filed account at Companies House, Stewart Milne Group reported a £16.6m pre-tax profit in the year to the end of October 2022, compared with an £8.1m loss the year before.
It was helped by the sale of its timber frame manufacturing arm to the Donaldson Group in late 2021.
G15 landlord L&Q signed a deal with Stewart Milne Timber Systems in 2019 to deliver frames for around 1,500 of its homes.
