THE DEVELOPER of luxury apartments in Weymouth has gone into administration with reported debts of £11.8million.

The closure of Laishley Developments Limited, the company behind the unfinished Hutton Apartments on the seafront at Greenhill, has left tradesmen ‘tens of thousands of pounds’ out of pocket.

Reasons behind the company’s closure include a ‘substantial loss on a recent contract which led to cash flow difficulties’, the ‘general unfavourable economic climate’ and adverse weather conditions last December and January this year, which led to long periods of inactivity on sites, leading to time and cost overruns.

Administrators from Vantis have been called in to deal with the company, which has a head office in Romsey. Trades people, who did not wish to be named, said they were owed ‘tens of thousands of pounds’ by Laishley.

One businessman said: “It’s absolutely had a knock-on effect with my staff.

“It could be the difference between me trading and not trading if I don’t get paid for the work.

“I believe it’s a big concern for the whole of Weymouth because it could end up being the big white elephant on the end of Greenhill if it’s not finished.”

A spokesman for Vantis said that factors behind the crisis that hit the business included ‘but were not limited to’, a substantial loss on a recent contract which led to cash flow difficulties, the general unfavourable economic climate leading to a reduction in new work and delays in contracts being awarded.

An Administration Order was granted on June 9, and Frank Wessely and Peter Hughes-Holland of Vantis were appointed as joint administrators.

The Vantis spokesman said ‘prospects for dividends to unsecured creditors’ were not certain at this time and rumours that creditors would receive one penny in the pound were unconfirmed.

The spokesman said it is was too early to predict the amount of return that creditors will receive but further updates would follow within the next few weeks.

He said: “The figure of £11.8million is the total deficiency on the estimated statement of affairs filed as a part of the witness statement in support of the court application for the appointment of administrators. The joint administrators are currently sending out redundancy letters to inform the staff of the administration and their legal rights.

The spokesman added: “It is not anticipated that there will be a sale of the business.

“We will be reporting to creditors with the full administrators’ proposals within eight weeks of the appointment.”