James Fennessey

Founded in 1976, the family-owned business provided a full portfolio of mechanical and electrical design, installation, maintenance, testing and consultancy services for the commercial, industrial and residential sectors. Projects included city centre offices, health boards, local authorities, private companies, community projects, churches, hotels, retail and sports centres.

The business had expanded rapidly in recent years and diversified into new markets, including the supply of M&E consultancy and services for the fast-growing renewables sector.

Staffing peaked at over 200 in 2019, and Weir & McQuiston was firmly established as one of Scotland’s leading M&E contractors. The business was also well-known for its leading apprenticeship recruitment and training programme.

The business has ceased trading with immediate effect and unfortunately 93 employees have been made redundant.

The joint administrators will market the assets for sale including work in progress and plant and equipment and are encouraging interested parties to make contact as soon as possible. They will also focus on working closely with the Redundancy Payments Office and PACE to minimise the impact on staff affected by the closure

The administration was caused by unsustainable cash flow problems stemming from wafer-thin margins in the construction sector, the cessation of construction activity and the widely reported problems with labour and materials shortages.

Blair Milne, joint administrator and head of restructuring with Azets, said: “Weir & McQuiston was one of Scotland’s leading mechanical and electrical contracting firms with a quality client base and an excellent reputation across the construction industry.

“The directors did everything possible to keep the business trading, however the scale of cash flow problems and the impact of the lockdown left them with no alternative other than to cease trading and place the company into administration. We will now focus on realising as much value from the assets as possible for the creditors and would ask interested parties to contact our Glasgow office as soon as possible.”