A British building business founded by Irish developer Bernard McNamara is in the final stages of liquidation, according to filings with the UK companies’ office.
One of the best-known players during the Irish property boom, Mr McNamara moved to the UK after his Irish construction empire collapsed in the wake of a financial crash in 2008.
Documents filed with the UK companies’ registrar show that British-based MB McNamara Construction Ltd, which the developer and his wife, Moira, established in 2014, is in the final stages of liquidation.
Liquidator Rina Rohilla of the Richmond Partnership states that she expects the case to be closed within 12 months in a progress report covering October 2022 to October 2023 filed with the registrar.
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Creditors placed MB McNamara Construction in liquidation in 2022. A statement of affairs filed at that time shows that it owed £1.7 million (€2 million) to unsecured creditors.
According to Ms Rohilla, the company had two contracts, one for the design and construction of a 93-bedroom hotel in Marylebone, London, and a second to extend the Hampton by Hilton on Waterloo Road, also in the British capital.
Planning issues halted the Marylebone project, requiring revisions and increased costs. “The debtors also kept changing the plans which meant increased costs,” says Ms Rohilla.
The original agreement was for £13.7 million, but the amendments brought this to £17 million, which Ms Rohilla says “the debtor did not want to pay”.
The Waterloo Road contract suffered as a consequence. That project, worth £5.8 million, was going well until it emerged that the difficulties with Marylebone were causing MB McNamara Construction financial problems, according to Ms Rohilla.
“Waterloo refused to make any more payments and made a condition that if they did advance any funds then they should only be used for their project,” she says.
“At the mention of a possible liquidation, Waterloo gave notice to terminate and decided to complete their project with another contractor.”
Ms Rohilla calculates that amounts due to creditors and expenses bring total liabilities to almost £2.6 million.
She had received 15 claims from creditors totalling £1.6 million, but they had not been adjudicated at that point.
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The liquidator also says there is a potential £379,611 due to the UK revenue in VAT, but she had not received any claim from the tax authorities, which British law treats as “secondary preferential creditors”.
A UK court declared Mr McNamara bankrupt in 2012. He emerged from the process in 2014. Company filings show that he and Ms McNamara established MB McNamara Construction in July 2014.
Both were listed as directors and as equal shareholders at that point. Liquidation filings list Moira Threse McNamara as the sole shareholder. Efforts to contact Mr McNamara for a comment were not successful.
