![\"Homes\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/homes.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA South West housebuilder partly owned by former Conservative MP David Heathcoat-Amory has collapsed into administration, putting 77 jobs at risk after efforts to secure a rescue deal failed.<\/p>\n
Devonshire Homes Limited has appointed administrators from Alvarez & Marsal Europe LLP to oversee the insolvency process after being unable to find fresh investment or raise sufficient funds through asset sales.<\/p>\n
Only Devonshire Homes Limited has entered administration, with other associated businesses and developments within the wider group remaining unaffected.<\/p>\n
The company had been attempting to avoid insolvency in recent weeks after filing a Notice of Intention to appoint an administrator, a legal process that provided 10 business days to pursue a rescue plan.<\/p>\n
During that period, the business explored several options, including securing external investment and disposing of assets to improve its financial position.<\/p>\n
Those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, resulting in the formal appointment of administrators.<\/p>\n
Company accounts indicate the firm’s financial difficulties were largely driven by a residential development it acquired when construction was already partially complete.<\/p>\n
The project consisted of bespoke, architect-designed timber-frame homes across two separate locations, marking a significant departure from the company’s traditional style of housebuilding.<\/p>\n
Accounts filed by parent company London & Devonshire Trust Limited said: “The group had not built such houses before and significantly underestimated the build costs to build the designs.”<\/p>\n
Devonshire Homes collapses into administration with 77 jobs at risk<\/p>\n
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DEVONSHIRE HOMES<\/p>\n
The company said completing the development proved substantially more expensive than originally anticipated, resulting in an in-year deficit of \u00a3156,099 and an expected overall loss of \u00a31.28million.<\/p>\n
Its financial position was further affected by an accounting policy adjustment during the same period, which reduced profits by a further \u00a3341,902.<\/p>\n
The accounts described the losses as “exceptional” and stated that similar acquisitions would not be repeated.<\/p>\n
Before entering administration, Devonshire Homes had operated in the South West for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n
![\"Homes\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782749950_157_homes.jpg\")
Since 2008, the company has built more than 2,000 homes across Devon, Cornwall and Somerset<\/p>\n
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GETTY<\/p>\n
The business previously traded as Langworthy Construction before adopting the Devonshire Homes name.<\/p>\n
Its developments included traditional countryside properties with thatched roofs, modern apartment blocks and new-build family homes, while the company also carried out restoration work on Grade II listed buildings.<\/p>\n
At the time of its collapse, active developments were under way in Ilfracombe, Bideford, Yelland and Bovey Tracey in Devon, alongside projects in Wincanton, Somerset, and Mabe and Penzance in Cornwall.<\/p>\n
The company recorded a pre-tax loss of \u00a3137,024 for the year to September 2024 on turnover of \u00a352million, having reported profits of more than \u00a31.2million in the previous financial year.<\/p>\n
The collapse comes amid continued pressure across the wider construction industry.<\/p>\n
Research published earlier this year by Witan Solicitors found that 41.6 per cent of construction companies ceased trading between January 2021 and December 2025, based on Companies House data.<\/p>\n
The research found domestic building construction recorded a failure rate of 43.4 per cent over the same period.<\/p>\n
Qarrar Somji, solicitor-advocate and director at Witan Solicitors, said: “The construction industry is under sustained and growing pressure, and there are very few signs that things will ease in the short term.”<\/p>\n
Mr Somji said escalating costs, supply chain pressures, labour shortages and increasingly complex regulations were continuing to place significant strain on businesses across the sector.<\/p>\n
He added: “Cash flow remains one of the most critical pressure points, especially for smaller firms,” noting that contractors often wait 90 days or longer to receive payment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A South West housebuilder partly owned by former Conservative MP David Heathcoat-Amory has collapsed into administration, putting 77…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[35884,84,59,2222,50,2331,117384,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-664583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-across-the-uk","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-money","tag-news","tag-sgg","tag-south-west","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}