A RESPECTED family construction firm which went into administration at the cost of 86 jobs before Christmas owed £3.6m to creditors, a report has revealed.

Joyce Construction and Civils, based in Corbridge, called in administrators FRP Advisory in December having operated in the region since its formation in 1948.

A statement of affairs submitted by the administrators to Companies House revealed the firm owed more than £3m to creditors, which included £2.4m to trade creditors, £44,000 in staff wages, redundancy and notice payments and close to £300,000 to HMRC.

Andrew Haslam, a joint administrator based from FRP’s Newcastle office, had blamed bad weather in the summer for a chain of events which led to the firm delaying payments, falling behind with credits and the bank not being able to put any more money into the business.

As a result, JC&C, as the firm operated under in the latter years, was forced to cease trading, despite directors ploughing more than £1m of their own money to try to rescue the business.

The administrators revealed how efforts had been made to save the business by trying to find a buyer but none was found. FRP was now seeking a distribution for creditors in other ways.

Since the firm’s collapse, several courses of action had been taken, including an auction to sell plant and machinery, fixtures, fittings and equipment, while the sale of leasehold buildings was also being explored.

It was understood many of the 86 workers who lost their jobs when the firm collapsed had found alternative employment.

Joyce Construction and Civils was founded by Tommy Joyce, and the company was taken on by his sons Miles and Chris.

The company had a big reputation across the North-East and had been involved in high profile developments such as the water features at the Alnwick Garden, the redevelopment of Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, the Akzo Nobel site in Ashington and the Testo’s roundabout in Boldon, Sunderland.

Joyce Construction and Civils was contacted for comment.