Over 80 jobs lost as Britain’s oldest builders goes under

One of Britain’s oldest building contractors has called in administrators with the lost of over 80 jobs.

Knowles & Son (Oxford), based in Berinsfield, was established in 1797 and reached nearly £30m turnover, according to latest published results.

But staff were told last week that the firm had called in administrators and their jobs had been axed.

Based in Oxford, Knowles worked predominantly within Oxford City and the surrounding counties.

The firm carried out building and restoration work for Oxford University, the National Trust, The Heritage Lottery Fund, and Oxford Preservation Trust.

It had been in the hands of the Knowles family for eight generations.

According to last accounts for 2016, Knowles had crept back into the black making a pretax profit of £600,000 after two years of losses  of £1.3m and £1m respectively in 2015 and 2014.

from Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2017/11/20/over-80-jobs-lost-as-britains-oldest-builders-goes-under/

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