1,800 More Jobs To Go At Rok

[cashinmattress]

Link

A further 1,800 redundancies at building services firm Rok were announced by administrators today, bringing total job losses to around 2,600.

The cuts come from the closure of the firm's maintenance and improvements division in the UK and Rok's construction business in Scotland, both of which suffered job losses in the previous week. Other redundancies have come from its plumbing, heating and electrical (PHE) division.

The self-styled "nation's local builder" appointed PwC as administrators last week after it fell into difficulties in meeting its "financial obligations". Only 650 staff remain at the firm.

The Exeter-based firm was hit hard during the financial crisis, when it lost several private and public sector clients and was previously forced to cut some 750 jobs.

Extreme weather conditions hit Rok and the rest of the industry earlier in the year and life worsened for the firm in April, when it said profitability would be hit by a number of "under-performing" contracts in its PHE arm.

Rob Hunt, partner and joint administrator at PwC, said today's redundancies were necessary as it was clear they would not find a buyer for the rest of the maintenance and improvements division and Scottish construction business.

He said: "Operations cannot continue and hence we have had to take steps to close both the maintenance and improvements division as well as the Scottish construction division. We have retained a small workforce to assist us in this process."

Mr Hunt said the remaining staff work within the construction and social housing business in England and PwC are still working to find an interested party.

Rok's woes come 10 weeks after social housing firm Connaught entered administration, leading to some 1,400 redundancies.

Hmmm.

Who's next?

[200p]

Not going to name names, but one of the large builders surely. Always a mass of job losses before Christmas. Just how it is.

[LittleSteroid]

do they say how many jobs will go in Exeter alone?

Edited November 16, 2010 by LittleSteroid

[OnlyMe]

Weren't the administrators only just trumpeting about multiple approches?

Massive inflation in raw materials. Private work brought forward to beat VAT rise. More inflation to come. Hyper-bubble in land prices now (other countries have come back from the precipice) leading to much reduced demand.

Building sector on its knees by February.

[bricor mortis]

Weren't the administrators only just trumpeting about multiple approches?

Building sector on its knees by February.

Yep, and that will upset or should i say reset the GDP figures which have been really skewed by an alleged 11% growth in the construction sector.

[aa3]

Also the Tories raising the VAT really hurt.

[Cinzano Bianco]

Also the Tories raising the VAT really hurt.

When did they do that?

[longtomsilver]

The VAT rise will be the final nail in the coffin for 2011 bringing with it RPI inflation in excess of 5% (on the ground we will feel >10%). Consumer confidence will take a nose dive and the treasury will see a fall in VAT receipts. The writings on the wall, it's political suicide.

[Bloo Loo]

unlucky engineering Companies thought the Connaught thing would move business to ROK, and sure enough, business came from them...now they've gone bust, there will be a short delay as a NEW supplier comes into the frame.

Luckily for many, ROK busted before many new contracts could have finished many with unpaid invoices for new work done.

[200p]

A lot of anger coming out on the BBs

http://www.advfn.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=18651096&from=1601

serantel - 9 Nov'10 - 11:45 - 1608 of 1651

andrewgc8 , yes it,s just a travesty.You are bound to have seen this sort of thing before in your locality on a smaller scale perhaps.

You know , well known local builder/contractor suddenly goes bust leaving a trail of unpaid bills.Then as if by magic the same people re emerge under a new name using the same premises and equipment.What amazes me is that trade suppliers will give an account to the new company even though it is clearly being run by the owners of a previous disaster.A disaster for everyone except them that is.

It,s a game , once these small time businessmen/builders learn how to go about it then they milk it in some cases several times.I believe in some cases they go bust by bad management or whatever then think "Hey" this aint so bad I should have run up more debt and squirreled more away.Oh well next time I will do just that.......and on it goes.

Rok are just bigger thats all.

It is the same time and time again , the little man always loses out but the owners/bosses will come out without a scratch and start the game all over again.

The banks lend money to them and then once things go wrong lend them more in a desperate attempt to get their money back .Eventually the penny will drop and the banks pull the rug.

Which makes it all much much harder for the honest builders to get finance .

This country is run for the wide boys , honesty in this country will get you f**k all.

[dubsie]

Not going to name names, but one of the large builders surely. Always a mass of job losses before Christmas. Just how it is.

The problem is that there are so many tradesmen losing their jobs that there could be serious damage done to this sector. So bad that the industry may never recover.

Thousands of young people have been told to take apprenticeships but they won't get work, thousands are leaving the trades because pay and conditions are dreadful. People like myself who are time served are approaching retirement but our skills may be lost for good.

[sun n sea]

They'll just ship in migrant workers no doubt claiming that there is a "skill shortage".... awkward questions about why there is a skill shortage will be swept under the carpet.

[Harry Monk]

Same happens in road transport, a large Kent haulier went bust a few months ago owing several dozen drivers a month's wages, they were up and running the following week out of the same premises, with the same trucks, run by the same people and advertising in the Sun for the next wave of mugs.

[dubsie]

They'll just ship in migrant workers no doubt claiming that there is a "skill shortage".... awkward questions about why there is a skill shortage will be swept under the carpet.

maybe but you will see a drop in quality which is already low on new build. I'm thinking of leaving the industry this year but if I do I'll have to lay off my apprentice mid training. There is still work but the price for it is dropping every month. £18 per hour for gas work but they want a full central heating system in a day. 2 years ago I would be getting close to a £900 plus scrap for the same amount of work. This meant I could stretch the job over 2 / 3 days pay an apprentice and do a cracking job.