Peterlee Metal Structures Firm Enters Administration After Almost Three Decades...
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Peterlee Manufacturing Company Falls Into Administration After Nearly 30 Years…
24th August 2026
A long-established County Durham manufacturing company has formally gone into administration, raising questions over the future of the business and its workforce less than two years after its published accounts showed net assets had surged to £1.5 Million Pounds..
Philadelphia Structures Ltd, based at Palmer Road on Peterlee’s South West Industrial Estate, had administrators appointed on 5 August 2026 according to documents seen by the Teesside & Durham Post..
The formal insolvency notice confirms that the company has formally entered administration with Steven Brown and Stephen Kenny, both of KBL Advisory Ltd, appointed as joint administrators of the company and are subsequently managing the companies affairs.. The Peterlee Based Manufacturing Business was incorporated in September 1997, however its claimed a sustained difficult trading period, alongside the firm struggling to recover significant sums owed to it led to its unfortunate root into Administration.
More than £1.7m owed to the company
Unaudited financial statements for the year ending 31 December 2024, filed at Companies House in March 2025, showed the company reported net assets of £1,488,523, up slightly from £1,434,669 the previous year, with Debtors increasing from £712,489 in 2023 to £1,731,484 in 2024 — an increase of more than £1 million in a single year.
Its claimed £1.638 million of the debt the company currently has on its balance sheet consists of trade debtors, meaning money recorded as being due from customers. At the same time, cash held at the bank and in hand fell from £944,646 to £662,693.
Trade creditors almost trebled
The apparent move into Administration appears to have been spurred by the firms inability to recover sums from its trade creditors which increased its balances from £353,420 to £1,038,669…. & 194 per cent increase in just 12 months.
£191,000 written off as bad debt
Another notable disclosure appears towards the back of Philadelphia Structures’ financial statements where the company revealed that during 2024 it was left having to write off approximately £191,000 in bad debts.
According to the accounts, the entire amount related to sales invoices which had been raised in previous years with the firm recording an average workforce of 32 people during 2024, compared with 29 the previous year.
Gloomy Outlook for Peterlee’s Manufacturing Sector.
Peterlee has seen a number of challenges in its local economy as of late with a number of businesses indicating their intentions either to reduce, or even shut down their operations in the County Durham Region, with one firm NSK Bearings still reportedly in consultation with its staff over a proposed closure of its Peterlee site leaving between 300-400 workers potentially facing redundancy.
The Teesside & Durham Post understands that Administrators will be looking to rescue the stricken Peterlee metal manufacturing business where possible in a bid to save the jobs at the site, however it remains wholly on the basis that a rescue plan can be put forward.
This is a breaking news story & we will endevour to update the article with any additional details as they become available.
