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Brims Construction to save around 150 jobs at collapsed Tolent’s Teesside operations

By Nagasunder in UK Business News, posted February 23, 2023

Brims Construction hopes to save around 150 jobs by taking on collapsed firm Tolent's sites.

The Sunderland-based firm is working with John Wood, founder of Tolent, to bring some of the firm's sites back online, saving 150 jobs.

The company, which had offices in Teesside Industrial Estate, Thornaby, and Shotton Colliery in County Durham, hired Interpath Advisory on February 13.

Tolent announced the immediate loss of 313 jobs on the £85.5m Milburngate development in Durham earlier this month.

This was the catalyst for the chain of events that led to its demise.

Brims intends to re-hire Tolent's previous Teesside management team, as well as staff, operatives, and supply chain members.

It aim is to cause as little disruption to clients as possible.

Some sites resumed operations on Monday.

Brims will not be responsible for repaying any of Tolent's creditors.

Brims, which employs 90 people on-site and in the office, was founded 16 years ago by Ian Clift, Jason Wood, and Richard Wood.

All had previously worked for Tolent, which was founded by Jason and Richard's father, John Wood.

This means they are familiar with the Teesside staff and business operations.

Despite the challenges posed by Tolent's current legal and financial situation, Richard Wood said that the Brims team has visited all current projects and spoken with clients.

He said Brims had been looking to expand further south and open an office in Teesside, but had not anticipated it happening in this way.

He said: “Following the announcement on February 13 that Tolent had gone into administration with the loss of 350 jobs, we took action immediately as it is a company very close to our hearts.

"My father set Tolent up, but Ian, Jason and I all trained and worked there, with John only retiring three years ago as chairman.

“Its unfortunate demise has provided an opportunity for the future expansion of Brims and at the same time, we are hopeful of providing secure employment for up to 150 employees moving forward.

“The former Tolent sites will be re-badged as Brims Construction and our sole aim is to save jobs with the minimum of disruption to clients.

"We have spent the last few days talking to clients and reassuring them that their projects will proceed as normal, with the people they have previously been dealing with. We are confident we can minimise any job losses by quickly stepping in this way.”

Tolent’s Teesside office was working on a mix of commercial projects including a rolling programme of petro-chemical maintenance works. In total, the value of the ongoing work is estimated to be around £15-£20m.

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Mr. Wood said: “Several clients have already recognised our new proposal is simply to provide them with the same group skillset of people but with a stronger company behind them.

"We have already received new orders for work, which helps save the previous workforce, for which we are all extremely grateful. We are currently dealing with the administrator, in order to buy the Tolent Teesside office building at Thornaby and it is very much our intention to put firm roots down in Teesside.”

Source: Business Live