Contractor behind Liverpool’s Anfield Road Stand files administration notice

Buckingham Group Contracting said the decision was due to “rapidly escalating contract losses and a sharp reduction in liquidity”.

The Stowe-headquartered builder acknowledged that filing a notice to appoint administrators would “come as a shock” to stakeholders.

“Very strong delivery and commercial performance across most of the business has been outweighed by deep losses and interim cash deficits incurred on the three major stadium and arena contracts, and a substantial earthworks contract in Coventry,” Buckingham Group said in a statement.

“This situation on these four long-term, major projects developed through a combination of unexpected impacts such as the extreme inflation linked to the Ukraine conflict and other challenges in the sports and leisure division,” the statement continued.

Buckingham Group is the main contractor for Liverpool Football Club’s Anfield Road Stand, which was to bring an extra 7,000 seats to the stadium. This would increase Anfield Stadium’s capacity to 61,000.

Work had begun on the stand in 2021. At that time, the project was due to complete in time for the 2023-2024 season. That deadline has since been missed, although the lower tier of the Anfield Road Stand has been cleared for operational use.

Liverpool FC said that Buckingham Group’s administration status would not impact the opening of the lower part of the stand on Saturday.

“Following the successful test events earlier this week, Liverpool City Council’s building control team issued a safety certificate to operate the lower tier of the Anfield Road Stand and we look forward to welcoming supporters to Anfield for our first Premier League home game of the season,” the club said in a statement.

“We will work with Buckingham Group on the planned phased opening of the remainder of the new stand and will continue to keep supporters updated on arrangements for future games.”

Buckingham Group is also the main contractor for the £80m Headbolt Lane Station in Kirkby and began work on the Merseyrail project last year. Neither Liverpool City Region Combined Authority nor Merseyrail responded to requests for comment.

Buckingham Group stressed that it is not currently in administration. The filing of the notice was to “protect the business whilst we explore a sale of all or part of the business in a very short period (days/weeks)”, the company said.