The firm was working for Bam Construction on phase two of the Aston University Student Village Complex where it ran into cash flow problems.

O’Donnell was the biggest concrete firm operating in the Midlands and over 20 years worked on projects like the Cube and the bigger earlier phase of the Aston student village for Carillion.

Patrick O’Donnell, commercial director, told the Enquirer: “We are devastated to have to call in the administrators. But the credit insurance crunch meant we needed more working capital and payment delays on Aston meant we had no other option.”

O’Donnell was working on five contracts in the region. Most were for Lend Lease on the local schools programme.

It was also due to start a University College Birmingham teaching block for Shepherd Construction next week.

Bam is understood to have taken on O’Donnell’s entire team on the Aston student village project to complete the contract.

Turnover at O’Donnell halved in recent years from around £17m in 2009 to just £8.7m last year.

Fierce competition for work in the concrete sector, particularly in the Midlands, hit the family-run company and saw it operate at a loss during the last three years.