Flats firm goes under (From The Bolton News)

Flats firm goes under

12:15pm Thursday 24th January 2008 in

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ADMINISTRATORS have been called in at a Bolton developer.

CLH Holdings and CLH Limited, based in Clive Street in the town centre, have gone into administration after lenders called in funding earmarked for a £12 million apartment development in Manchester.

The companies had won approval to build 72 apartments at The Glassworks in Manchester's Northern Quarter. All of the flats had been pre-sold.

Bolton-based Tenon Recovery has been appointed as the administrator, which will now seek buyers for the apartment site.

Matthew Bowker and Chris Ratten from Tenon have been appointed joint administrators.

Mr Bowker said: "CLH Holdings Ltd and CLH (Manchester) Ltd had received planning permission for a high quality, £12 million multi-purpose development.

"A combination of significant development issues, escalating building costs and a loss of market confidence caused funders to call in the debt."

He added: "It would be wrong to believe that CLH will be the last or largest property related casualty of 2008.

"The UK's commercial property sector is under pressure, and this will only increase as lenders review the value of their portfolios."

Dr Teresa Lunati, senior lecturer in economics at Bolton Business School at Bolton University, said: "I'm not familiar with this particular case but certainly there is a loss of market confidence at the moment.

"What started in America last August with banks and financial institutions being hit because they had given mortgages to people who could not afford them, has had serious affects, particularly this week.

"The housing market is starting to be shaken, with decreases in the value of assets and the construction industry is facing quite a serious problem.

"So while this company going into administration saddens me, it does not surprise me and we could see quite a few cases like this in the coming months."