Dramatic rise and fall of construction kings

HILLSTONE Developments enjoyed a rapid rise to a £75 million annual turnover — but a dramatic fall as administrators were brought in yesterday.

The company was founded by Craig Halliwell, from Royton, and Tony Bhatti, from Preston, in 2004. Within two years, it had moved into impressive new premises at Royton’s Salmon Fields Business Park.

Hillstone quickly emerged as the company behind many of the new property developments in Oldham and a major player in its regeneration.

Six floors of apartments and retail units at The Victory, Union Street, are complete, while work on 58 two-bed apartments at Cardinal Court, Scholes Street, is well under way.

Elsewhere, ambitious designs have been drawn up to turn the former NatWest Bank and Northern Carpets store in Mumps into a 57-apartment block called The Bank and for a 15-storey development at the old Gaumont Cinema building in King Street.

The firm also invested money into the borough, becoming shirt sponsors of Oldham Athletic. Messrs Halliwell and Bhatti also took over non-league Chadderton Football Club last year with ambitions to transform its fortunes.

By last December, Hillstone had a £75 million annual turnover and Mr Halliwell said he had been delighted by the company’s progress — though disappointed it hadn’t reached £100 million.

However, events turned sour with the onset of the credit crunch. Potential buyers were put off by a combination of high prices for flats and increased interest rates from lenders.

There has been talk over several months of sub-contractors chasing debts from Hillstone Developments, though the firm repeatedly denied it was in trouble.

In February, Mr Halliwell claimed Hillstone was going from strength to strength and he had secured contracts to build developments in Yorkshire and Stockport.

He said at the time: “The economic climate is not good for houses and developments, that has an impact, but we have a lot of pre-sales.”

But at Chadderton FC, who play in the North-West Counties second division, the businessmen withdrew their financial backing and informed the club’s committee it was up for sale for £1 or would fold.

Hillstone’s staff were shocked and angry when told they were losing their jobs yesterday.