Buckingham Group

Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd was a construction company, originally founded in 1955. It was located near Stowe, between Buckingham and Silverstone in north Buckinghamshire and operated throughout England and Wales. It went into administration in 2023 with the loss of over 400 jobs and owing over £108 million.

History

Established in 1955 as Buckingham Plant Hire, it incorporated in November 1987 as Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd. The company became established as a main contractor undertaking major construction and civil engineering projects, run by managing director Ian McSeveney.

The company built several sports-related buildings including the £30m London 2012 Olympic handball arena (now known as the Copper Box), a £30m pit lane development for the Silverstone Circuit, and the £93m Falmer Stadium for Brighton and Hove Albion FC.

Administration

On 17 August 2023, the company filed for administration, jeopardising several ongoing projects, including a new £80m 7,000-seat stand at Liverpool's Anfield stadium, a stand at Northampton Town's Sixfields Stadium, redevelopment of Birmingham City's St Andrew's stadium, and restoration of Whitley Bay Metro station. The firm had also been working on a new stand at Fulham's Craven Cottage; reports suggested financial commitments to that project were partially responsible for the company’s difficulties.

In September 2023, the group, which had a turnover of £700m, formally went into administration, with Grant Thornton appointed as administrators. Kier Group bought Buckingham's rail assets and an HS2 contract for £9.6m, saving 180 jobs, but 446 staff — across building, civil engineering, demolition, major projects, and sport and leisure operations — were axed, while other ongoing projects were taken over by other firms. The contractor's collapse was UK construction's biggest since Carillion went into liquidation in January 2018.

The group's collapse left subcontractors owed over £100m. Debts on Liverpool's new Anfield Road Stand alone were around £20m. A 29 September 2023 report from the administrator Grant Thornton confirmed trade contractors and suppliers were owed over £108m, with 1,200 unsecured creditors unlikely to see any kind of return. Buckingham Group had around £5m in the bank when it entered administration.

The group's plant hire business, Buckingham Plant Hire, was initially said to be unaffected by the collapse of the contracting arm and continued to trade profitably. However, it was owed around £1.8m, according to the administrator's creditors' report.