Piling contractor blames building safety delays for London business slumping into red

The real-world impact of building safety delays was revealed by piling contractor Van Elle this morning which said its biggest division had seen income fall by nearly 20% and its London operations slump into the red as a result.

Announcing its annual results this morning, the listed firm said revenue at its biggest business, general piling, was down by 19% to £46m.

It said: “Residential sector revenues decreased by 21% compared to the previous year which primarily reflects challenging market conditions in both new build housing and high-rise residential activity.

“The division has been materially impacted by the Building Safety Act, which has caused delays to start dates of taller residential schemes, significantly impacting profitability, particularly in the London market.”

>> See also: Is the government’s Building Safety Regulator shake-up enough to fix the delays?

It added that delays to start dates of taller residential schemes “has largely impacted the group’s London operations which reported a loss before tax of £1.6m in the year”. It has previously said it had been hit by hold-ups in getting safety sign-offs required by the Building Safety Act on more than 40 jobs.

But it said recent announcements by the government on overhauling the gateway approvals process, particularly at gateway 2 stage, was “encouraging”.

It added: “In the housing sector a market recovery is expected, supported by recent government measures to accelerate Building Safety Act approvals, which would unlock a number of delayed residential schemes.”

Group turnover for the year to April was down 6% to £130.5m with pre-tax profit slumping one third to £4.6m.