Report further exonerates failed demolition company too late.
The failed demolition of two Seaforth tower blocks cost a contractor £600,000 and helped force it into administration, a new report has revealed.
J Bryan (Victoria) led the demolition of Churchill and Montgomery House in Seaforth – but they both failed to come down during a controlled implosion back in April last year. A Health and Safety Executive report into the demolition, released in January, revealed that hidden steel pipes filled with concrete were the reason the blocks didn’t come down as planned.
Widnes-based J Bryan collapsed in June blaming cash flow problems after the failed implosion. Now a full report from administrators Mazars has revealed just what the demolition cost the firm.
It says: “In April 2016, the company carried out a demolition in Bootle, which due to errors in calculation by a subcontractor, resulted in a failure to demolish two of the three residential blocks involved. This resulted in significant costs, estimated at some £600,000, being incurred by the company, either directly or through lost debt recoveries from its customer,”
To meet the cost the company increased its overdraft with HSBC from £350,000 to £600,000.
J Bryan launched an insurance claim against the subcontractor but so far that claim has only brought in one payment of £191,000.
Mazars is continuing the insurance claim against the demolition subcontractor.
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