One of the family-owned group’s funders, Cumberland Building Society, appointed PwC as administrator late yesterday.

The £40m revenue property to construction group had been trying to refinance but blamed economic uncertainty for failing to secure support.

The administration only impacts on the main construction division of the Marcus Worthington Group with residential arm Hollinwood Homes unaffected.

Two other group companies Marcus Worthington Properties and Stonewell Property Company will also continue to trade normally.

Work will continue on two projects, the 125 Deansgate office development in Manchester and the £30m North Western Halls hotel redevelopment in Liverpool, which are being financed by an investment fund.

A statement from directors said: “The current economic uncertainty has led to us struggling to secure additional borrowing from our bank lenders.

“We have also been unable to attract fresh funding from other lenders because of these testing market conditions.

“Our primary thought at this time is with our staff. All our employees have been paid up-to-date as of September 30 and we will be supporting those affected in any way we can. We are consulting with our subcontractors and will update them in due course.”

The alarm was raised about Marcus Worthington when workers at a 250-bed student accommodation site for the University of Lincoln walked off site last week.

The project, which was due to complete last month, has suffered significant delays and will now be opened next year.

Work started on North Western Halls refurbishment at the end of last year with completion set for autumn 2020