Sheffield group Dew Pitchmastic has put two subsidiaries into receivership after they were hit by pension deficits, believed to be in the region of £28m.

Ernst & Young, receiver for Dew Construction and Dew Remediation, has cut 285 jobs. Pitchmastic Pmb, the group's structural waterproofing business, is not in receivership and is trading normally.

Hunter Kelly, of Ernst & Young, said: "Unfortunately it has been necessary to make these redundancies as the workload was not sufficient. Certain contracts have had to be ended because they would have cost more money to complete than would have been received for doing the work."

Kelly some businesses would be sold as going concerns.