2,200 employees of construction company ISG in the UK are facing immediate redundancy, after the company announced on Friday that it had gone into administration. All 8 arms of ISG’s UK operations, (including engineering and retail) are affected. The company is retaining 200 staff to help administrators EY wind down the business.

Counting Apple, Barclays, and Google among their private clients, ISG currently holds more than £1 billion in government contracts across 69 projects. It was responsible for the velodrome used in the 2012 Olympics. Work on all contracts has stopped and employees will be paid up until Monday.

Attempts to rescue the company or find a buyer capable of financing ISG in the future failed. Owned by US firm Cathexis, the British arm of the international company has been facing difficulties for some time. In an email to employees, Chief Executive Zoe Price said that Friday’s announcement was due to ‘legacy issues’ from contracts that made significant losses between 2018 and 2020.

‘Trading out these projects has had a significant effect on our liquidity. So even though we have been profitable this year, our legacy has led us to a point where we have been unable to continue trading.’

Ed Griffiths, analyst for Barbour ABI, warned that the ripple effect of ISG’s collapse could affect 100s of subcontractors. A Government spokesperson assured that it had already implemented detailed contingency plans and departments would ensure that sites were safe and secure.

(Sources: bbc.co.uk)