Timber building manufacturer Carbon Dynamic in administration

7 December 2018


Scottish timber building manufacturer CLDB Ltd – trading as Carbon Dynamic – has gone into administration.

Blair Nimmo and Geoff Jacobs of KPMG LLP were appointed as Joint Administrators of CLDB Limited on December 6.

The Invergordon-based company, which makes timber modular units, has been involved in a flagship project this year in supplying 78 pods for a Wilkinson Eyre-designed undergraduate student village at the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology in Malmesbury.

Having invested about £1.3m in research and development to develop the modules since the company’s inception in 2012, Carbon Dynamic’s turnover grew to £3m in the year to May 2018, and was expected to reach £6m by May 2019.

However, despite significant R&D investment, underfunding in other areas of the business meant the company ran into trading and cashflow difficulties as it was believed to be nearing completion of the Dyson project.

The director was unable to secure funding to address cashflow pressures and had no other option than to place the company into administration.

At the time of the appointment, the business employed 42 people, all of whom were based at its leased facilities in Invergordon. Following the appointment, 40 employees have been made redundant.

Two staff have been retained to assist the Joint Administrators as they seek offers for the firm’s business and assets, which principally comprise substantial amounts of intellectual property, part-complete modules, order and customer books, equipment and raw material stock.

“Unfortunately, Carbon Dynamic was unable to continue trading in light of challenging conditions and significant cashflow difficulties,” said Blair Nimmo, Joint Administrator and KPMG’s global head of restructuring.

“This has, in turn, resulted in the redundancies which have been announced. We will be working with all affected employees and the relevant government agencies to ensure a full range of support is available.

“We are rapidly exploring the possibility of securing a sale of the company’s business and assets and would encourage any interested parties to contact us as soon as possible.”

Designed to be low energy, highly insulated and constructed from locally sourced materials, the modules offer eco-friendly, low cost residential and commercial accommodation. Contract sizes range from one module to more than 70.