As previously reported, accountants from insolvency specialist from KJ Watkin & Co took over the company on 20 December and all 64 employees were laid off the following day.
CPL managing director David Lawrence assured The Construction Index that he had no involvement with Open Space Design & Build Ltd, which was registered at companies house on 10 November. The new company was registered by Dudley Miles Company Services Ltd, a specialist in company formations, with Dudley Miles listed as sole director. The new company shares an address with CPL’s accountants, Harben Barker, in Drayton Court, Drayton Road, Solihull.
Mr Lawrence said that Open Space Design & Build was the new company of senior employees who had every right to start their own business, he said.
“I have no connection to Open Space Design & Build,” Mr Lawrence said.
Mr Lawrence said that he would not be working for or with the new company and sought to allay suspicions of any Phoenix-like scenarios. “Why would you want to close a business down that you’ve invested 17 years of your life in, unless you had to?” he said. “Purely and simply we got taken by some very bad contracts in London that wiped us out. The biggest loser in all this is me.”
The administrators said that discussions were being held with “a number of interested parties” about CPL contracts, but would neither confirm nor deny that Open Space Design & Build was among them.
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