Anwyl picks up second half of stalled Cruden scheme 

The company has been awarded an additional £9m contract to complete a residential development in Runcorn for housing associations Magenta Living and Onward Homes, after the collapse of the previous contractor. 

Last week, Onward Homes said it planned to pay Anwyl Construction £5.5m to carry out “urgent remediation work” and complete the construction of 48 homes at the 120-unit development, left unfinished after Cruden Construction appointed administrators in July. 

Magenta has now said it will pay North Wales-based Anwyl £9m to complete the remaining 71 homes.

Onward and Magenta are building out the development, known as Halton Court, in a joint venture. 

The scheme aims to deliver a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom homes for shared ownership and affordable rent. 

Large spoils of soil are “at immediate risk of landslip”, according to Magenta, while Onward said the site in its current state presents “a significant health and safety risk to residents nearby and other third parties”, necessitating the immediate restarting of work on site. 

Onward and Magenta are appointing Anwyl without a procurement process, in order to speed up the remediation works. 

Warrington-based Cruden collapsed in July due to losses on several contracts and additional costs caused by project delays arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to its administrator KPMG.  

At the time of its collapse, Cruden owed £19m to creditors.