A “major ongoing contract” has been taken over from the recently collapsed fit-out firm Beck Interiors, according to administrators.
The job was included in a pre-packaged sale of part of the £140m-turnover business, administrators from Begbies Traynor said in a statement.
The statement said the administrators acted swiftly to secure the sale, “which has resulted in the preservation of jobs and the retention of value within the company”. Begbies Traynor added that it is weighing up offers for other parts of the business.
It also revealed that Beck had been running out of cash in June due to an “ongoing customer dispute”, which piled on top of failures in its supply chain and increasing costs on existing contracts.
Beck approached advisers to secure investment in the ailing business but the process was unsuccessful, leading the firm to file for administration in July after 30 years in business.
One subcontractor told Construction News at the time that Beck appeared to have had problems since last year, leading the subbie to turn down further work on one of the fit-out firm’s biggest projects.
Surrey-based Beck specialised in luxury fit-out, working on hospitality, leisure, residential and museum projects. Its recent work included refurbishing the Dorchester Hotel and restoring the Cadogan Hotel, both in high-end London districts.
At the time of its collapse, Beck was near to finishing the fit-out of The Whiteley near Hyde Park, London – multinational resort Six Senses’ first UK location.
The fit-out firm became the latest in a string of major employee-owned contractors to go under in recent times, following in the footsteps of Buckingham Group, Michael J Lonsdale and Readie Construction.
