Anwyl replaces Cruden in Runcorn 

Developer Onward Homes will pay the North Wales contractor £5.5m to complete a 48-home scheme at Halton Court after the project stalled when its previous contractor Cruden Construction collapsed in July. 

Onward Homes claims the site in its current states poses a risk to public safety and therefore urgent groundworks and remediation are required. The works include the repair of walls that “could collapse”, according to a tender document outlining the situation. 

The site in Runcorn presents “a significant health and safety risk to residents nearby and other third parties”, Liverpool-based Onward said in the documents.

The affordable homes provider will appoint Anwyl Construction without conducting a procurement process, in order to speed up the remediation. 

Onward said that launching a full procurement process for the works would cause “significant delays”, and it had not been able to identify a framework that offers part-completion of a site. 

The scheme aims to deliver a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom homes for shared ownership and affordable rent. Onward is delivering the homes in a joint venture with Wirral-based housing association Magenta Living.

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. 

Sandy Livingstone, executive director of property at Onward Homes, said: “The Halton Road site is an important part of our escalating programme to deliver more than 500 homes a year across the North West.

“We intend to appoint Anwyl as our new contractor. This will enable us to restart work again as soon as possible, delivering 48 homes for our customers with all of the positive social and economic impact that will bring.”