Astins, based in Crawley, employed approximately 140 people and turned over £50m in 2018. It was founded in 1996 by Dominic Rhind-Tutt and Mark Pettit. Dominic Tutt bought out his partner in 2013 and remained managing director.
Andrew Duncan and Andy John of Leonard Curtis Business Rescue & Recovery have now moved in as joint administrators. Andrew Duncan said: “The company has suffered recently as a result of a number of substantial bad debts and claims received from clients in respect of historic contracts, which have made it impossible for the business to continue to trade.”
He confirmed that most of the 140 employees have been made redundant, with a small number retained to assist the aministrators for a short period.
“Our focus is now on ensuring that the company’s employees receive their claim entitlements from the Redundancy Payments Service as soon as possible and making sure that any value held in the company’s current contracts and other assets is preserved for the benefit of creditors,” Mr Duncan said.
Current major contracts include the Royal Liverpool University Hospital where Astins was employed by Laing O’Rourke to carry out dry lining and fire-stopping works.
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