Debts of nearly £30m likely to be unpaid
William Telford Business Editor
14:50, 12 Aug 2025
Burrington Estates’ Maer View housing development in Bude, Cornwall(Image: Google)
A major Devon-based housebuilder has gone bust with debts of nearly £30m likely to be unpaid. Exeter-headquartered Burrington Estates Group Ltd has entered liquidation with creditors given until the end of this week to submit proof of their debts.
The holding company, which traded from Windslade House in Clyst St Mary, was involved in the construction and sale of residential properties in the South West and Midlands. Its new homes division Burrington Estates (New Homes) Ltd ceased trading last year and has also gone into liquidation with debts of more than £17m expected to remain unpaid.
Overall, more than 30 Burrington Estates subsidiary companies have entered liquidation this year. DevonLive has approached the liquidators dealing with the Burrington Estates collapse but has yet to receive a reply.
Documents filed at Companies House reveal Burrington Estates Group Ltd has estimated realisable assets of just £15,155. The company’s own statement of affairs said creditors are expected to be left short of £29,215,915.
Most of this is owed to the company’s main funder and shareholder, London-based venture capital lender BGF Group Plc which had lent money in 2021 and 2022, secured by a floating charge. But of the £27,646,605 it is owed it is only expected to get £8,641 back.
More than £1.5m is also owed in intercompany loans to Burrington Estates (Buckfastleigh) Ltd, Burrington Estate (Midlands) Ltd, both in liquidation, and Burrington Estates (Topsham) Ltd, which is still active.
Other Burrington Estates companies that are in liquidation have debts but much appear to be owed to other entities in the group. For example, Burrington Estates (New Homes) Ltd’s expected unpaid debt of more than £17.6m to unsecured creditors is nearly all owed in loans to other Burrington Estates companies, although there are some other businesses owed cash amounting to thousands of pounds.
In January 2024 it was announced that the new homes division would complete projects it had started, sell off undeveloped land and wind up its operations. The housing division, which employed about 70 people, completed more than 600 homes in the region, including schemes in Exeter , Tiverton and Bude.
It came as accounts for the 18 months to June 2022 showed Burrington Estates Group Ltd made a pre-tax loss of more than £14m. It blamed “increasingly difficult trading conditions” including rising interest rates.
The Burrington Estates empire was set up in 2011 and purchased The Ship, Plymouth ’s former home of The Herald and Western Morning News, in 2015. It went on to develop landmark business sites at Sky Park, in Exeter; West Park, in Wellington; Oak Tree, in Newton Abbot; and Plymouth ’s Eurotech Park.
These were transferred to ONYX Business Parks Ltd, when Burrington Business Parks, a separate company under the Burrington Estates empire, rebranded in May 2023. ONYX Business Parks Ltd continues to trade and is unaffected by the collapse of Burrington Estates Group Ltd.