Administrators appointed to Merit 

Interpath has been assigned to oversee the process for the Cramlington-based offsite modular construction specialist.

Merit Group Services, Merit Health, and Merit Holdings were one of the UK’s leading construction firms in the sector, working across the healthcare, life science, education, battery technology, and aerospace industries.

Over recent months, Merit had experienced contractual issues and delays to a number of its major contracts, which in turn had a significant impact on cashflow.

This led to liquidity problems and, following an unexpected winding-up petition directed at Merit Group Services, new work awards were adversely affected and a number of projects were delayed.

The directors looked into selling the company, refinancing, and investment but a solvent solution could not be found.

Now that the administration process is in place, the majority of Merit’s 340 staff have been made redundant.

James Lumb, managing director at Interpath and joint administrator, said: “The UK construction industry continues to face tremendous headwinds, with rising costs, high interest rates, and subdued private sector demand having an impact on larger contracts in particular.

“Although Merit has developed an outstanding reputation for the quality and innovation of its specialist offsite solutions, these broader challenges proved to be insurmountable.

“We continue to explore options in order to find a solution that works for Merit’s customers, employees and creditors.

“In the meantime, we are prioritising providing support to all those who have been affected by redundancy, including supporting them with claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.”