11/04/2022
Media Release
On Monday the 11th April 2022 Elphinstone Enterprises of Burnie was placed into the hands of the Aministrators Shaw Gidley due to losses sustained during Covid.
The Covid outbreak has caused increasing costs in products and materials, ongoing delays in projects and a shortage of skilled labour to meet demand. We have also been seriously affected by staff absenteeism due to Covid isolation rules imposed on employees for being close contacts since the border re-opening.
Although we have battled through the pandemic to this point it has been a long hard road. We thought that our situation was improving when we obtained over $1.3m worth of contracts in the middle of 2021 to be completed by the end of January 2022. To date, these projects have not been completed for the following reasons:
• Olympia Stadium – August - Completed
• Kingston Bike Park - September - Aboriginal artifact search not completed, project delayed until 2022 and has subsequently been handed to an alternative fabricator
• NWRH Antenatal Unit – October – Soil samples conducted weren’t adequate, ground too hard, Project delayed until January – Not completed
• MacKillops MDT Extension – November - Continuous Engineering Changes – January 2022 – 75% complete.
• Dominic College – December – 10% completed main project not started not started, issues obtaining concrete tilt up panels
• Sorell high School – December – Site issues - Started onsite 11/4/22
• Sorell Emergency Services – January – Plumbing permit not issued – started onsite 4/4/22 all areas not accessible until after easter
These delays have not been caused by us but have resulted in our demise and are a direct result of Covid. The industry is overheated, and engineers, architects and project managers are not able to meet agreed timelines that were set in good faith at contract signing. As a result, a manufacturing business like ours is left with production gaps (empty workshop) which we were unable to fill after entire projects are moved out. Furthermore, we were unable to seek further work as projects are rolled into the future taking time that should have been available for new projects. As a result, 6 months work has turned into 10 resulting in unrecoverable losses.
Further issues were created due to staff losses. Staff are being offered higher paying roles with other employers and covid isolation requirements have dropped our available work hours significantly meaning that we could not produce the materials in timeframes required to meet the new program targets. As a result, we have had to relinquish some of our contract commitments because we are unable to do 6 months work in a few weeks.
We have tried our best during the pandemic. We have restructured and reduced management wages costs, we have worked closely with the department of state growth, business consultants and our bankers, but we have exhausted all options for finance and support. Covid has won!
Our aim now is to save the 30+ employees jobs and make some restitution to creditors by this administration process. It is not our intention to liquidate the business as this will lose jobs and result in further unrecoverable losses to creditors.
We are disappointed with the current Liberal members for Braddon both Federal and State, we have made numerous attempts to reach out for assistance over the last few months, but silence has been their reply. We would like to thank Rebecca White, Anita Dow and Chris Lynch for their empathy and support in dealing with this Covid related business failure. Something not expected from this lifetime Liberal supporter.
We hope this administration process will allow us to restructure and return to the solid core business we had before the Covid outbreak removed our profitability and sent us to the wall.
Shaw Gidley Contact:
Scott Newton
Level 1, 65 Lord Street
Port Macquarie NSW 2444
Phone: 02 6580 0400
