Teesside Housing Group draws line under failed construction arm with solvent wind-up of Gus Robinson Developments...
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Former Hartlepool Construction Firm Enters Liquidation as huge financial losses bring the curtain down on a Housing Providers construction arm...
26th Fab 2026
In a Teesside & Durham Post Exclusive, Its been revealed The former Hartlepool construction firm Gus Robinson Developments Ltd has formally entered liquidation, almost two years after its parent company, Thirteen Housing Group, announced that the loss-making business would be wound down following a prolonged period of financial decline.
A special resolution to wind up the company was passed on 12 January 2026, where according to filings at Companies House, the directors made a statutory declaration of solvency in which they stated that all creditors would be paid in full. The move confirms the final stage in the dismantling of a once proud Hartlepool construction business whose mounting losses had for years been underwritten by the housing association who purchased it back in 2018.
The latest amended financial statements, for the year ending 31 March 2025, show the scale of the historic burden carried by the local construction business. Although the company reported a modest accounting profit of £187,248 for the final period of trading, this followed a loss of more than £2.1 million the previous year and left it with a total accumulated deficit of £9.56 million and net liabilities of the same magnitude.
The accounts make clear that the apparent return to profit did not represent any indicated recovery in its trading fortunes, with the firms Turnover collapsing to just £10,014 as the business ceased taking on any new construction work, with the profit position driven largely by internal group support from its parent company Thirteen Housing Group and the release of provisions rather than by commercial activity.
In his report, director Matthew Forrest confirmed that the company had effectively stopped trading during the year and was completing only residual contracts, stating that a decision had been taken by the Thirteen board to wind the business down. The company was therefore no longer considered a going concern, with the clear intention that it would be closed once its contracts were completed.
Gus Robinson Developments had previously operated as Thirteen’s in-house construction and development contractor, delivering housing schemes across the Tees Valley and beyond. The model was designed to give the housing group direct control over build costs and delivery, but it became increasingly unsustainable as losses mounted on fixed-price contracts, cost overruns and a challenging construction market.
The financial statements show the extent to which the parent organisation was required to prop up the subsidiary. At the year end the company owed more than £8.7 million to group undertakings, part of a revolving credit facility on which interest had ultimately been waived as the wind-down progressed. The firms workforce had effectively disappeared by the final year, with no employees recorded, underlining the fact that operations had already been brought to a halt ahead of the formal liquidation process.
The collapse brings to a close the story of a firm that once played a prominent role in the region’s housing construction sector. Earlier in the decade Thirteen had promoted the company as a key vehicle for delivering new homes and regeneration, but repeated losses forced a strategic rethink as the group moved back towards procuring work through external contractors.
Thirteen Housing Group had acknowledged when announcing the wind-down that the construction arm’s performance had been a significant drag on its finances, with the cost ultimately borne by the wider housing group & its tenants in the form of increasing rents.
The amended accounts illustrate the final reckoning, showing that while creditors are expected to be paid in full through the solvent liquidation process, the company itself leaves behind a multi-million-pound deficit.
A Costly Venture
With the passing of the winding-up resolution in January, the legal process has caught up with a commercial reality that had been evident for some time. What began as an attempt to create a vertically integrated development business has ended in closure, the losses absorbed by the parent and the once-active contractor reduced to a balance-sheet exercise as Teesside's Largest private Housing Provider finally draws a line under one of the most costly ventures in its corporate history.
