The move will see the firm’s core civil and structural engineering operation transferred to newly formed CCE Ltd, a business established at the same address as Clancy Consulting with a common director.

The pre-pack style restructuring is designed to ringfence the profitable engineering business while the consultant exits its building services division following challenging market conditions and persistent skills shortages.

Latest filed accounts for Clancy Consulting for the year to March 31 2024 show it employed 180 staff. The company told the Enquirer its more recent staff number in unfiled accounts was 118.

Clancy Consulting said the restructure would result in unavoidable redundancies, although it was working to transfer members of the building services team to another consultancy where possible to maintain client continuity and protect jobs.

Chief executive Chris Acton said: “The previous company carried a historic liability which needed to be addressed.

“Following a comprehensive review, the administration process was identified as the only mechanism to enable the Civil and Structural Engineering business to separate and move forward as a focused standalone business.

“Importantly, the restructure has enabled us to safeguard over 70 jobs within the Civil and Structural Engineering business and preserve a strong and experienced team, longstanding client relationships and a substantial portfolio of work.

“The restructure provides a platform to protect those strengths and build a sustainable business focused on the Civil and Structural Engineering expertise for which Clancy has been known for more than 54 years.”

The streamlined business will focus exclusively on civil and structural engineering, the discipline on which Clancy built its reputation over more than five decades.

Acton said the new business would provide “greater clarity, greater focus and an even stronger platform for our future”, adding that clients would continue to receive the same service while the firm invested in its core engineering capability.