Croft Street development delayed

The completion of 22 new homes being built on Croft Street has been delayed because the developer contracted to do the work has gone into administration.

Building company Rok had been contracted to build the properties by Brighter Horizons, the charitable subsidiary company of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing.

The scheme consists of 18 two bedroom bungalows and four three bedroom houses with some of the new bungalows re-housing tenants who lived in the former pre-fabricated bungalows that were demolished by RBH.

On Monday (8 November), the building company Rok announced it had gone into administration. 

 Clare Tostevin, Head of New Business and Regeneration for Rochdale Boroughwide Housing said: “The Rok announcement was a shock to everyone and is obviously something out of our control. Naturally we are very disappointed that this news will delay the completion of the scheme.  However, the scheme is very near to completion and we obviously intend to ensure it is finished.

“We await further details from Rok's administrators and assure residents that we will be examining carefully all the options available to us in order to complete all the  properties on Croft Street to provide quality new homes as quickly as we can.

”We have written to the residents concerned about this and we will continue to keep them informed as soon as we know more.”

A statement on the Rok website reads: “On 8 November 2010, Robert Hunt, Michael Jervis, Robert Lewis and Jeremy Webb all of PricewaterhouseCoopers, were appointed as joint administrators of Rok plc and Rok Building Limited. Further announcements will appear shortly.”