Plymouth company Underhill Building Services goes bust owing £1.3m

A Plymouth building company went bust leaving debts of £1.3m likely to remain unpaid. Long-running Underhill Building Services Ltd has been voluntarily wound up but its linked Plymouth company Underhill Engineering Ltd is totally separate and unaffected.

The electrical, plumbing and joinery business was set up in 2001 but appointed liquidators in April 2023. Documents filed at Companies House reveal it was wound up with assets of just £6,000 but owed large sums to the tax authorities and lenders.

The company left HM Revenue and Customs short of £327,875 and floating charge holder Lloyds Bank Plc claiming £43,601. However, the bulk of the company’s debts are owed to associated company The Rogers Group (SW) Ltd , claiming £243,688, and one of its own directors: Keith Underhill, who is owed £685,710.

Underhill Building Services was once a part of the large Underhill Group Ltd, which controls Plymouth’s well-known Underhill Engineering Ltd. The building firm was at one time described as a sister company and has been based in Honiton, Exeter and, most recently, Plymouth.

In 2019, Underhill Engineering ceased to control the building firm with Adela and Steven Rogers – owners of the Rogers Group Holdings Ltd which has Rogers Group (SW) Ltd as a subsidiary- taking over alongside Keith Underhill, now aged 75.

The most recent accounts for Underhill Building Services are overdue. Accounts for the year to March 2021 revealed net liabilities of £716,364.

Keith Underhill was a founder of the Underhill Group with his brother Mike Underhill in 1974. Mike, aged 73, is still company secretary, and the brothers are still owners. The Underhill Group owns Underhill Engineering, where Mike is still on the board, but Keith and his son Richard Underhill have stepped down. Richard left the Underhill Building Services board in 2018.

Underhill Group and Underhill Engineering have moved around Plymouth and in 2011 bought the former Gleasons factory at Estover, now used by the NHS. The companies moved from Estover to Plympton in 2019.

At one time Underhill Group had five divisions, with Underhill Industrial Coatings, Underhill Marine Services and Underhill Fabrication Services in addition to steelwork contractor Underhill Engineering and the now defunct building services company.

Each division operated independently of one another. The Underhill Group’s LinkedIn profile said: “We constantly strive to deliver turn-key solutions where the principles of good value-engineering and through-life costs are considered from the outset. As such, each division compliments the other’s business activities, allowing the group to offer a comprehensive steelwork packages; from design and fabrication through to protective coatings, installation and project handover.”

Underhill Group Ltd’s most recent filed accounts, for the year to March 2022, revealed net assets of more than £7m. PlymouthLive has contacted Underhill Group and was told Underhill Engineering is still in operation but no one was available to discuss the wound-up Underhill Building Services.