Fibre Broadband Builder Glenevin Collapses into Administration
Civil engineering firm Glenevin, which in recent years has helped to construct full fibre broadband networks for a number of operators across the United Kingdom (e.g. CityFibre, Voneus, Openreach etc.), has sadly just become one of the latest digital infrastructure builders to fall into administration.
Established in 2013, the Livingston-based business was a well-known multi-utility infrastructure development and maintenance business operating nationally, but predominately in Scotland. It employed 45 employees, and in the year ending August 2022 had annual turnover of c. £40 million.
However, all does not appear to have been going well for Glenevin this year, which ISPreview understands appointed both Gareth Harris and Paul Dounis of RSM UK Restructuring Advisory LLP as Joint Administrators of Glenevin Limited and its subsidiary GCL Hire Limited on Friday 30th August 2024.
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According to RSM UK, the decision to appoint Administrators was made after a “material deterioration in market conditions led to funding being withdrawn for many of the pipeline contracts“, ultimately leaving the “company unviable“.
Unfortunately, despite concerted efforts in a short space of time, it was ultimately found to be “not possible to find a buyer for the business” and it has therefore been “closed down with all employees made redundant.”
Gareth Harris, Partner at RSM and Joint Administrator, said:
“This has been a very fast-moving situation but due to market circumstances outside their control, and without a viable solution the Directors have had no choice but to shut the business. Employees have been paid up to the end of the month, but sadly all have been made redundant on appointment.”
ISPreview has been investigating the situation around Glenevin since the early summer, when we first began to receive reports that the contractor had downed tools on their deployment with Voneus. Back then a spokesperson for Voneus informed us that: “The builds that we contracted with Glenevin are either complete or close to completion.” But the wider UK situation appears to have been more complex.
Network operators and, by extension, any civil engineering firms they use are currently under a lot of pressure from rising costs (build, leases etc.), competition from rivals (e.g. overbuild, take-up) and the challenge of raising fresh investment during a period of high interest rates. Quite a few operators have already restructured or scaled-back their build plans, which has fostered a rise in consolidation and redundancies.
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RSM was advised by James Davison and Victoria Procter at DLA Piper.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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So another one of CityFibre’s contractors has bitten the dust though in fairness there hasn’t been one for a while. As always feel sorry for the employees who lost their jobs.
I am not sure why you have called out CF specifically there?
All civils firms run a tightrope when it comes to be reliance on the market if they specialise in simply one thing, in this case, fibre.
Its not a career path one would take for job security that’s for sure.
@Roger Melly, he doesn’t like Alternative networks, he seems them as a threat to his beloved BT/Openreach, reducing the value of shares he may own, seems to be the same for a lot of people who post on here.
He wants Openreach to be the only network, so people don’t have a choice but to give money to BT.
while i had no interest in going to FTTP, since I was more or less pushed, I am glad I had the choice.
Well they did kinda go through a railway bridge in Edinburgh so it is no surprise Cityfibre gave them no work after that…. another meaningless post by Big Dave.
And the MD has set up a new operator
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2024/08/new-network-operator-solas-fibre-plan-uk-fttp-broadband-rollout.html
I think you mean maybe Livingston not Livingstone (not sure if that place exists
Surprised they lasted this long tbh. I was a supervisor covering them few years back in Colchester and the work was not good at all, but many contractors were the same.
Doesn’t say much for you as a supervisor does it!!
Is City fibre still pretending its restarting the builds it never finished?
No and it currently has no plans too. The UK economy makes it difficult for organic build.
They’ve restarted in many areas, really depends how much of the civils are done and if CPP falls within a certain amount.
Glenevin has been doing a power of work in rural Aberdeenshire in the last year or so, doing a lot of the civils as part of Openreach’s deployment through the Reaching 100% programme. I wonder how the loss of another supplier will affect their rollout plans, not just here, but across Scotland.