ABOUT 80 jobs are at risk after an award-winning building firm suspended trading just short of its 60th anniversary.

EC Gransden, based in Bobbing, near Sittingbourne, called in staff on Tuesday morning to tell them the bad news.

They were told to go home and await a call from the company as soon as the situation became clearer.

But sources close to the company, which was founded in 1946, say that bosses gave them little hope that it would resume trading.

A letter was sent to all staff explaining that it was “unlikely to continue in its present form”.

It is understood that the firm is in talks with its bankers about its viability.

Company founder Eric Gransden, who is in his eighties, was said to be in tears.

Sources point the finger at two projects – St Mary’s Island Primary School, Chatham Maritime, and a housing development in Ramsgate, which had caused particular financial difficulties.

Talks are under way with potential buyers and firms willing to continue unfinished jobs.

EC Gransden is respected for the quality of its work, with a high reputation for church renovation and specialised joinery.

The £750,000 Orangery at Turkey Mill recently won the company a national craftsmanship award.

It has worked on prestige projects across the county, including Demelza House children’s hospice, Kings School, Rochester, the Heart of Kent Hospice, and The Spitfire Pub, Kings Hill, West Malling, for Shepherd Neame. Its latest contract is for Sevenoaks Library.

The last completed project was the £2.3 million Tolherst Court office complex at Turkey Mill in Maidstone.

No one from the company was available for comment.