REVEALED: Incomplete Peterborough Carillion projects as firm goes into liquidation

Peterborough City Council are exploring '˜the options available to them' after Services giant Carillion went into liquidation today (Monday).
The offices of Carillion in Manasty Road, Orton Southgate, Peterborough.The offices of Carillion in Manasty Road, Orton Southgate, Peterborough.
The offices of Carillion in Manasty Road, Orton Southgate, Peterborough.

The firm has a base in Manasty Road, Orton Southgate, Peterborough and its recent major contracts in the city included the £43m revamp of Peterborough train station and the new Hampton Gardens school.

It was still working on three school building projects with the city council.

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A council spokesman said Carillion staff were on-site working on the expansion of Jack Hunt School, and the proposed new Hampton Lakes Primary School and the proposed new Heltwate Special School to be built at Newark Road are both at the design stage with Carillion.

Councillor Lynne Ayres, cabinet member for education, skills and university, said: “Carillion has had a long association with constructing high quality school buildings in Peterborough, most recently Hampton Gardens Secondary School which opened last September. The quality of work has always been very good and delivered both on time and on budget.

“As we have building work currently in progress with Carillion we have been in regular communication with the company to understand its situation and the options available to us.

“We will now be considering these options and will work with all the parties involved to ensure the best outcome for work currently in progress in Peterborough.”

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The stricken firm, which employs 20,000 workers across Britain, said crunch talks over the weekend aimed at driving down debt and shoring up its balance sheet had failed to result in the “short-term financial support” it needed to continue trading while a deal was reached. Carillion, which has been struggling under £900 million of debt and a £590 million pension deficit, has seen its shares price plunge more than 70% in the past six months after making a string of profit warnings and breaching its financial covenants. Its collapse poses questions as to why the group continued to receive Government contracts despite issuing a number of profit warnings. The Government has urged staff to keep going to work and said “those already receiving their pensions will continue to receive payment”.

Carillion chairman Philip Green said: “This is a very sad day for Carillion, for our colleagues, suppliers and customers that we have been proud to serve over many years. “Over recent months huge efforts have been made to restructure Carillion to deliver its sustainable future and the board is very grateful for the huge efforts made by Keith Cochrane, our executive team and many others who have worked tirelessly over this period. “In recent days, however, we have been unable to secure the funding to support our business plan and it is therefore with the deepest regret that we have arrived at this decision. “We understand that HM Government will be providing the necessary funding required by the Official Receiver to maintain the public services carried on by Carillion staff, subcontractors and suppliers.”