Construction giant ISG's collapse puts Plymouth school's £7.5m extension on hold
Work on an enormous £7.5m Plymouth school extension has abruptly stopped after a construction company collapsed into administration.
Talks have now begun between bosses at Millbay Academy and the Department for Education (DfE) over the future of the project, which is partly on stilts above a playground and was designed so another 150 pupils could attend the school.
Construction has been going on for months to create a vast extension containing 10 classrooms and other facilities at the “red school” Millbay Academy.
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But on Friday it was announced that construction giant ISG had ceased trading and gone into administration with the loss of about 2,200 workers.
The company was involved in 69 Government projects, worth hundreds of millions of pounds, including building prisons and schools. ISG chief executive Zoe Price has written to staff saying all building sites would be closed and subcontractors should not come in.
Millbay Academy remains open for its students, with the building site shut and secured. Reach South Academy Trust, which controls the Millbay school, said it is now in talks with the DfE about what happens now.
A trust spokesperson said: “We were informed on Friday that ISG – the building contractor for our £7.5m programme of works to modernise and extend Millbay Academy - had gone into administration.
This is obviously hugely disappointing news, and we have been in close contact with the DfE, which is funding the works, to plan next steps.
“We are confident the works will be completed as they were only a few months away from being finished. We are writing to our families to let them know about this development and have committed to keeping them updated as soon as we have further news.”
The £7.5m project is for an extension with 10 new classrooms, a new reception area, new staffroom, and prep area, together with the remodelling of existing space to create new classrooms and new science labs and design and technology workshops. Planning permission was granted for the 700sq m extension in December 2022.
Millbay Academy currently has about 450 pupils, but it was intended for this to increase to 600 after the extension was built. Earlier this year executive headteacher Jo Ware told PlymouthLive that under the extension there would be a “really interesting outside space - where there will be an outdoor stage under one of the classroom extensions.”
The DfE said it had “robust contingency plans” to mitigate the impact of ISG’s collapse on Millbay Academy and other schools affected, of which at least two are in Devon. The department said it was working closely with the schools and other bodies to find alternative ways to complete the building projects.
A government spokesperson said: “We have implemented our detailed contingency plans and affected departments are working to ensure sites are safe and secure.”
Insolvency consultants as EY have been appointed as joint administrators for ISG Group, which is owned by US investment firm Cathexis. The companies that filed administration notices are ISG Central Services Ltd, ISG Interior Services Group UK Ltd, ISG Fit Out Ltd, ISG Engineering Services Ltd, ISG UK Retail Ltd, ISG Retail Ltd, ISG Construction Ltd and ISG Jackson Ltd.
In her letter to staff, Ms Price said ISG’s collapse was due to “legacy issues” relating to “large loss-making contracts” secured between 2018 and 2020. She also said Cathexis was unable to refinance the group.
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