A27 New Monks Farm works could be delayed due to Buckingham struggles

Buckingham Group has been redeveloping major projects including Anfield Stadium in Liverpool and the HS2 high speed rail network.

Buckingham is also the main contractor behind the A27 New Monks Farm development at Lancing which includes a roundabout to give better access to Shoreham Airport and access to the new housing development.

The company, which completed the Amex Stadium in 2011, said it had suffered “deep losses” from four major contracts across the country along with “extreme inflation” due to the Ukraine conflict and other costs.

What the New Monks Farm site and redeveloped A27 should look like (Image: Adur District Council)

As a result, it has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators but stressed that it was not currently in administration.

A spokesman said: “Very strong delivery and commercial performance across most of the business has been outweighed by deep losses and interim cash deficits incurred on the three major stadium and arena contracts and a substantial earthworks contract in Coventry.

“This situation on these four long-term major projects developed through a combination of unexpected impacts such as the extreme inflation linked to the Ukraine conflict and other challenges in the sports and leisure division.”

Buckingham has been seeking more investment over the last few months without success as it explores selling all or part of the business in the coming weeks.

The announcement raised questions about the future of the A27 New Monks Farm scheme.

Buckingham Group said it was contracted for the works by The Community Stadium Ltd, which is owned by Brighton and Hove Albion.

The A27 highway works are almost finished. These include access to Lancing College, Coombes Road, the new roundabout, access to Shoreham Airport and a cycle path.

The new roundabout was brought into full use in early June.

The new roundabout on the A27 pictured in March this year (Image: Sussex News and Pictures)

The Argus understands that apart from potentially delaying the completion of the project, Buckingham’s situation will have no effect on the A27 works being completed.

National Highways confirmed it is working with the developer to "find a solution to complete the works".

Buckingham remain in control of the site including traffic management.

The land is understood to have been purchased by the football club for the state-of-the-art training ground which opened in 2014.

The residential land was sold to Cala Homes which has completed 200 houses to date.

Some of the homes built by Cala. Albion's training ground can be seen in the background

The commercial land was sold to Ikea but the furniture giant pulled out of the development in July 2021.

The Argus was invited to see progress on the New Monks Farm development in November 2021.

Albion have previously said the project will create hundreds of new jobs.

The 121-acre site will have 600 houses, a country park, primary school and commercial unit.

Adur and Worthing Councils were approached for comment but said it was "a matter for the developer".