The company awarded a major contract to supply timber windows for the new £230m Scottish Parliament building has gone into liquidation.
The Scottish Executive has terminated US-based Flour City’s £7m cladding contract, which includes the fabrication of windows in Thailand for the building.
This week the executive and Bovis Lend Lease, project manager on the building scheme, are assessing the position of various Flour City subcontracts with materials suppliers.
But an executive spokesperson said it would try to honour commitments, dashing hopes local firms may be handed valuable contracts. He said about £800,000 had already been paid to Flour City.
David Sulman, secretary of the Scottish Timber Trade Association, said: ‘There is still uncertainty as to whether the contract will be retendered or not. It is difficult to know whether there will be any opportunities for Scottish suppliers. We hope there will.’
Mr Sulman criticised the original decision to award Flour City the contract and said the whole process had been ‘unsatisfactory’.
In May, the Scottish Trade Union Council condemned Flour City’s decision to ship oak to Thailand for window fabrication, where it claims labour rates are about 30p an hour.
