Tolent suppliers set to lose out
Unsecured creditors left hanging following the North East contractor’s collapse into administration are “highly unlikely” to recoup their losses, amounting to a combined £44.7m.
The firm was sent spiralling into administration following problems on its largest ever project, Durham’s Milburngate, with Interpath Advisory being appointed in February.
In an administrator’s report covering the period from February up to mid-August, Interpath said that Cleveland and Kildale House, two long leasehold properties held by the firm, have been sold off, netting £746,000.
Gately Vinden has been engaged to help recover construction book debts, bringing in a further £749,163. Walker Singleton was engaged to sell off office equipment.
The leasehold properties were sold to Brims, which has taken over a Tolent contract to deliver a £15m construction skills academy in Sunderland.
The head office, Ravensworth House in Gateshead’s Team Valley, remains up for sale. Secured creditor, invoice finance provider IGF, is owed £4.7m.
Interpath was appointed as administrator of Tolent Construction, Tolent Solutions, Tolent Living, Tolent Homes, Tolent PLC and Ravensworth Properties in February, and of Coolmore Land in March.
Recent months have seen eagerness to find a resolution on Milburngate – where a Premier Inn and Everyman cinema are mostly-built – while other Tolent jobs have passed into other contractors’ hands.
This includes Robertson taking over on Newcastle’s Pattern Shop and Wates taking over on the Vaux housing project, which like the construction academy is a Riverside Sunderland scheme.
