West Sussex housing development to be delayed after construction firm goes into administration

Westridge Construction has been building 49 new council homes in Southwick since 2021.

However, the company has now gone into administration, which has meant that work on the site in Albion Street has stopped.

Adur District Council said it will ‘take action to make sure’ its development is completed ‘at no extra cost’.

Council leader Neil Parkin said: “The collapse of Westridge Construction is extremely sad news for the company and all of the staff involved and we hope a solution can be found that allows them to continue working in some form.

“We have insurance to protect the council in such circumstances so the issue will not increase the cost of the project but it will inevitably delay its completion.

“We hope to learn more about the situation from the administrators over the coming days so the final few weeks of construction work on the development can be completed and we can provide new council homes for residents in need of somewhere to live.”

The council is ‘now considering a number of options’ to allow the final steps of the project to be completed ‘so that local families can move into the much-needed properties’.

A spokesperson added: “They include working with another building contractor who would be able to pick up the work quickly, organising a managing contractor who would manage the final pieces of delivery or adopting the last stages of development management itself.

“None of the options being considered will increase the cost of the project to the council because of insurance put in place before work began, in the form of a performance bond.”

The council said it will provide updates on the development via adur-worthing.gov.uk and on the council’s Facebook page.