ABOUT 80 people are looking for new jobs this Christmas after a long-established family builder was finally put into administration.

Bosses of E C Gransden, founded in 1946 and based in Bobbing, near Sittingbourne, had been in talks for nearly a fortnight hoping to find a way out of the firm’s financial crisis.

Callers were told that trade had been suspended temporarily. But that suspension is now expected to become permanent after the appointment of KPMG as administrators.

They are trying to find other contractors to take on unfinished Gransden projects.

James Money, an administrator with KPMG in London, was hopeful that some staff would be transferred to employers who took over the work.

“The administrators are working with the directors essentially to make sure the contracts continue with minimal disruption,” he said. “Hopefully, a large number of the staff will be taken on by those people who take on contracts.”

He was not yet in a position to say how much money the company owed. But he blamed a tough market and planning delays for some of Gransden’s difficulties. “A business like this cannot afford delays. It needs to have work all the time.”

Mr Money added that family directors were upset by what had happened to their company. “It’s inevitable when someone has built up a business over 60 years that to see this happen is obviously going to be fairly shattering.”

E C Gransden has worked on many flagship projects, including Demelza House, the children’s hospice at Bobbing, near Sittingbourne.