A LEADING property developer has announced that its construction firm has been placed into administration.

Hurstwood Construction, part of Haslingden-based Hurstwood Group, has been placed in the hands of administrators and it is understood that up to 15 white-collar jobs could be lost in the shake-up.

The company said that all those being made redundant had been informed.

The decision was prompted by funding problems on the Howard Town Mill project in Glossop, Derbyshire, bosses said.

Hurstwood Construction was contracted to develop the site, but funding problems for the principal developer had a knock-on effect for Hurstwood which had then struggled to pay sub-contractors.

Company chiefs said that Hurstwood Group's commercial, investment, development, house building and land trading operations would be unaffected by the decision.

Hurstwood Group commercial director Dominic Fussell said: "This is a regrettable but necessary decision and it was only taken after we had exhausted all the other possibilities.

"We have fought day and night for several weeks to stave off this situation but we were left with no other choice when we recently received a winding up petition from a sub-contractor.

"The company has significant outstanding debts owed to it which could have made a difference, but unfortunately time ran out for us when we received the petition."

Insolvency practitioner Begbies Traynor has now been appointed by Hurstwood Construction to handle the administration process.

Hurstwood Group employs around 100 people at its Rossendale base.