HE Simm formally appoints administrators

The “harsh reality” of the construction industry and years of battling headwinds have resulted in the collapse of the 77-year-old Liverpool-based M&E engineering firm.

Having signalled its intention to appoint administrators late last week, HE Simm’s board has now appointed Forvis Mazars to take control of the business.

Despite generating £110m in revenue for the year to 31 December 2024 – down slightly on the previous year – HE Simm has been forced to close, with 128 staff across offices in Liverpool, Manchester, and London losing their jobs.

Gareth Simm, the company’s chief executive, thanked staff and customers for their loyalty and said he was proud of the firm’s “reputation for excellence and quality and for always ensuring that our culture and values were at the heart of everything we did.”

He said that recent circumstances had “placed enormous pressure on the business”.

The failure of a key client, the loss of a number of projects, delays to major schemes, increasingly commercially challenging client behaviours, and losses on London projects have plagued the company over recent years, Simm said.

“As shareholders, and a family, we have fought very hard, and invested heavily over the last two years in an attempt to avoid [the] outcome, but in the end the harsh reality of the construction industry, the tight margins we operate at and the pressures as described, left us with no choice but to appoint administrators,” he said.

“We would like to take this opportunity to heartfeltly thank our dedicated colleagues for their unwavering commitment to HE Simm over the years. It might sound cliché but genuinely, our family was bigger than the Simm family. To say that it will be missed is an understatement.”

Richard Hough, joint administrator and director of corporate restructuring at Forvis Mazars, said: “The Company has encountered cash flow challenges, resulting predominantly from challenging market conditions. After careful consideration of the financial position, the directors of the Company reached the difficult decision to place the company into administration.

“The administrators are seeking contact from parties who may have an interest in acquiring the assets of the company, including existing customer contracts.”