Council hires Wates to finish stalled Britannia regeneration
Hackney Council has hired a new contractor to take over a major regeneration project after its original construction partner went bust following a High Court case.
The final phase of the Britannia Project, now estimated to cost over £197 million, was put on ice after the council’s main contractor, Ardmore Construction Group Ltd, entered administration on 11 June. The High Court had issued a Building Liability Order making multiple companies within the umbrella Ardmore Group liable for historic claims around cladding safety.
The council at the time confirmed that this was unrelated to the Britannia Project, but the firm’s collapse left the development in limbo as the local authority terminated its contract with Ardmore and scrambled to find another firm to complete the scheme.
Cabinet member for regeneration, planning and inclusive neighbourhoods, Alastair Binnie-Lubbock, said councillors had been working “incredibly hard” to minimise the impact amid a “stressful time” for those involved.
Council papers confirm that Wates Group Ltd has been brought in to restart the project, which is set to deliver 51 social rental homes, 30 shared ownership homes and 290 homes for market sale on the border of Hoxton and Shoreditch. None of these homes have yet been built, and many have been earmarked for rehousing some of the residents living on the nearby Colville Estate, which is also undergoing regeneration.
Rising costs
The scheme, tipped for completion in November 2026, was already three months behind schedule. Council reports estimate the final on-site construction works to take six months for a “late summer” completion.
The council approved Britannia Project phase 2b with a budget of £153.9 million in 2023, but the costs have since ballooned. Council reports state they are “now likely to exceed” the current approved budget figure of £197m.
The financial cost of changing contractors has been withheld from the public. The council canvassed 14 contractors about completing the job but found firms were reluctant to step into the abandoned project because of the risks attached to unfinished work.
Hackney Council handed the £153.9m contract for Britannia Project Phase to Ardmore Construction Ltd in 2023. However, in the months after the cabinet approved the deal, Ardmore asked to swap the contracting party with a parent company, Ardmore Construction Group Ltd, for reasons around “succession planning”.
Delegated powers
This decision did not come before the council’s cabinet. Rather, senior council officers signed off on the transfer using their “delegated powers” after receiving legal advice that the new company was capable of fulfilling the contract and the change did not alter the agreement’s substance. Ardmore Construction Ltd formally entered administration on 28 August 2025 — a separate collapse from that of its parent, which followed April’s High Court ruling.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) tried to obtain a copy of the financial guarantees and any legal advice the council received regarding the transfer through a Freedom of Information (FoI) request. The council refused to reveal them on the grounds of legal and commercial sensitivity, which it argued outweighed the public interest in transparency and accountability.
In June, Hackney Council told the LDRS it had been monitoring Ardmore’s position since April, after the High Court ruled against the firm and “put their future at risk”.
The Britannia Masterplan was first approved in 2018 and its first phase delivered a new secondary school, City of London Academy Shoreditch, and a new leisure centre, plus public realm upgrades.