Swansea-based contractor Dawnus Group is understood to be facing administration, with work on its sites grinding to a halt and workers reportedly called to meetings this morning before being sent home.
Work on the company’s £12m Kingsway redevelopment in Swansea and a road project in Manchester’s Regent Road both halted this week.
Meanwhile, Dawnus workers took to social media in a bid to look for new jobs. Section engineer Alan Goran, who has worked for the firm for nearly five years, posted on LinkedIn: “I lost my job overnight as Dawnus Construction [has] gone into administration. Please keep me updated if you have any jobs coming up.”
According to the firm’s latest financial accounts for the year to 31 December 2017, filed in Companies House, turnover was £170.4m, while the firm made a £1.4m pre-tax loss, down from a £3.6m pre-tax profit the year before, amid what the directors called a “competitive and challenging economic environment”.
Dawnus undertakes projects in the commercial, education, health, leisure, residential and retail sectors.
Late last year, its completed £3.6m extension of the Cox Green School in Maidenhead, which involved the construction of a new two-storey teaching block with kitchen and dining area, was visited by prime minister Theresa May.
Earlier last year, it also launched a BIM-ready Passivhaus-compliant model for the delivery of schools in Wales and was awarded a £23m design and build contract to deliver the new Passivhaus-accredited Ysgol Bro Hyddgen replacement all-through school in Machynlleth for Powys County Council.
Construction Manager has attempted to contact Dawnus Group for comment.