Administrators called in at Mason Lord

A Warrington-based contractor which bought a former director’s failing firm in a pre-pack deal last year has now gone into administration.

Mason Lord was led by directors John Mason, and until recently Paul Barrow, former managing director of Paragon Construction Group. Barrow resigned his directorship of Mason Lord on 17 August, a few days before Molly Monks and Darren Brooks of Milner Boardman & Partners were named joint administrators.

In March last year, administrators from RSM Advisory were appointed to Barrow’s Paragon, which owed £2m to unsecured creditors. Paragon’s assets were then sold for £15,000 in a pre-pack deal to Mason Lord in April 2016, and 30 of the contractor’s 40 staff were given jobs at the new company.

At the time of the purchase, Mason Lord said it would pay off Paragon’s debt if it was successful with a £6.7m contract claim against a former Paragon client.

Mason Lord is understood to have around 40 full time members of staff, although the company’s website describes its workforce size as up to 160.

Mason, now the sole director of Mason Lord, is also a director of Dispute Solutions, and Mason Lord Legal, of which Barrow is also a director.

Barrow remains a director of Hugh Developments, and Paragon Telecoms.

In 2005, Mason’s Albany Assets was part of a failed bid to develop a 44-storey tower in Manchester’s Piccadilly, one of several grand plans for the area aborted in the financial crisis. Albany Assets redeveloped the Albany Building in Liverpool into flats before going into receivership in the recession and eventually being liquidated in 2011.

Both Barrow and Mason declined or were unavailable to comment when contacted by Place North West. Milner Boardman also declined to provide any more information.