Second Holyrood roof firm goes under

Published on Sunday 7 May 2006 00:58

A SECOND company which worked on the roof of the Scottish Parliament building has gone into administration, just weeks after a beam came loose in the chamber of the £430m building and dangled over the heads of MSPs.

London-based Coverite, which worked on the roof of the debating chamber as part of a 10m package of work at Holyrood, went under last month after experiencing cash-flow problems. It has also emerged that the firm had been fined by the Office of Fair Trading for being part of a cartel which kept prices high during a programme of building works in Birmingham between 2000 and 2002.

Lincolnshire-based Cowley Structural Timberwork, which installed the controversial beams in the parliament, went into liquidation in February.

That fact has complicated the question of who might be liable for the costs of fixing problems which have emerged in the Holyrood chamber roof.

So far, the chamber's roofing problems have cost about 230,000 in repairs, diagnostic costs and moving MSPs to have meetings in other locations. MSPs will this week return to the chamber for the first time since the beam came away on March 2.

MSPs are in consultation with lawyers over how to recoup the costs arising from the problems in order to spare the public purse extra expense.

Lee Fleming a partner with Deloitte & Touche, which is administering the affairs of Coverite and trying to find bidders for the company's assets, said: "We are still adding up the books in order to see how much is owed. The situation is basically a problem of cash-flow. They stood to get a lot of money in from jobs but they were having to pay a lot of money too to get work done.

"As regards the Scottish Parliament, we are working on a solution to ensure all outstanding repairs and snags are finished."

Earlier this year, Coverite was fined 100,000 by the OFT for being part of a group of companies which colluded to keep prices high during a series of bids for work.

A Scottish Parliament spokeswoman said: "The Parliament has not been formally notified that the companies are in administration. At this stage, it is too early to say how the matter will be resolved."

She added that Coverite's work was not connected to the beams which have gone loose in the Holyrood chamber.