Thomas Mitchell has become one of the largest timber frame casualties of the recession after administrators from KPMG were appointed at the firm.
As well as the Thornton-based timber frame factory, which has produced more than 7,000 kits since 1968, all other divisions of the Thomas Mitchell Group, comprising a housebuilding business, a property investment division and portable accommodation firm Addacabin, have also gone into administration.
Sixty-one out of a total of 114 employees have been made redundant after Blair Nimmo and Gary Fraser, of KPMG Restructuring, were appointed joint administrators on February 17. The remaining 53 are being retained to assist the administrators with asset realization and statutory and administrative matters.
The housing sector downturn had negatively impacted the housebuilding business, while cashflow issues had been a problem for all divisions.
“It is no secret that the UK and Scottish housebuilding sectors have been hit hard by a number of factors in the economic downturn, all of which have had a detrimental effect on the day-to-day running of this well-established and family-run business,” said Mr Nimmo.
“While it is still an early stage in the administration, various options are being considered including the sale of some or all of the businesses,”
The group, founded by Thomas Mitchell in 1958, recorded a turnover of £29.8m in 2009 and sold 143 homes.
A member of the UK Timber Frame Association, the timber frame division has exported kits all over the world, including to the Falklands, Cyprus and Jamaica.
Anybody with an interest in the assets of Thomas Mitchell Group, or current customers of the group, can contact Mr Nimmo on 0131 222 2000.
