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Caddick takes on £154m Angel Gardens project and hires former Carillion staff

Caddick Construction has replaced collapsed construction giant Carillion on the £154m Angel Gardens scheme in Manchester, in one of the first major private projects to restart following the company’s liquidation.  

Moda Living has drafted in sister company Caddick to complete the 35-storey development and will be delivering the scheme with Apache Capital. As work looks to restart, Caddick has revealed it will take on 20 former employees and save around 500 jobs on site in the process. There are currently around 30 subcontractors working on the scheme.

Both Moda and Apache have said “contingency plans” were put in place once they became aware of Carillion’s financial troubles in a bid to ensure that job losses were prevented and the housing project continued. 

Andrew Parker, director of projects at Moda, said: “We have had contingency plans in place for some time and wanted to prioritise saving jobs, as we hugely appreciate the critical role played by the main sub-contractors and small businesses that support major projects. We have always remained close to the key sub-contractors and suppliers throughout the process and this has proved to be an essential part of the solution to keeping Angel Gardens on track.”

Richard Jackson, managing director and co-founder of Apache Capital, said: “No loss of money or time will be suffered, job security is ensured to former Carillion staff, financial security on this project is secured for our sub-contractors and onsite works have recommenced within two weeks to minimise delays and we will continue to deliver the project within budget.”

Carillion had been the main contractor before it was liquidated on 15 January and started work on Angel Gardens in January 2016 with the project now due to be completed in two phases between 2019 and 2020.

Adrian Dobson, commercial director at Caddick Construction said: “The fast and effective takeover of this complex project is testament to the strength and depth of our team. We are fortunate that our construction team has been able to step in and take this project forward within two weeks and are delighted that so many key Carillion employees elected to join the group, as this really strengthens our team in the north west.”

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