Administrators now running the company said: “A process to find a buyer and additional funding support has not been successful.”

Moulding Contracts had a turnover of £18m and operated from bases in Greater Manchester, County Durham and Oxfordshire.

Joint administrator Mark Getliffe of CLB Coopers in Manchester said: “Moulding Contracts will complete some specific contracts but there is no prospect of it continuing to trade as a going concern.

“The workforce was already in a redundancy consultation.”

Getliffe added that “there is every prospect of creditors being paid a distribution.

“The expectation is that we will be able to distribute funds back to creditors in 2017. A plan has been agreed to effect this and creditors will be consulted early in the New Year”

Moulding Contracts was formed in 1950 as a family-run plant hire firm in the North West and grew into a major service provider for the quarrying and brick making industries throughout the Midlands and the North.

In 1996, following the success of a number of joint venture projects, the company merged with a North East regional landfill engineering specialist and the company name was changed to Moulding Contracts Limited.

The employees affected include groundworkers, site agents, site engineers, and plant operators.

Getliffe said: “It’s unwelcome to see people lose their jobs at any time of year but there is a chronic shortage of these skills across civil engineering and construction, so it’s our hope and belief that the workforce will be able to find alternative employment.”