A contractor sacked by Sutton Council over alleged performance issues on a Hackbridge Primary School expansion project has collapsed into administration.

Lakehouse, which now trades as Sureserve, was awarded a contract to deliver additional school buildings on the site, admitting up to 120 more reception pupils.

But various issues – including “poor” performance, alleged delays and reports of issues paying subcontractors on time – led to the council terminating the deal.

Although construction firm Willmott Dixon was hired a month later to finish the job there are fears it may not be completed by this September.

Kieran Holliday, the council’s head of pupil based commissioning, revealed the latest development at a people committee meeting on March 14.

He said: “As the report sets out, due to the poor performance of the contractor the council terminated the contract of Lakehouse in January earlier this year - which is not a good situation to be in but one we felt we had to do.

“With about 80 per cent of the work completed, and 20 per cent of the work outstanding, we have now signed a letter of intent for Willmott Dixon to finish the job.

“We're currently in contract negotiations with them as we speak but are not yet currently in contract with them to complete the works. We hope that will happen in the next few weeks and that we can finish the job as quickly as we possibly can, given the disruption that it has caused particularly to the school who have been planning this for some time.

“We can't commit to a date of September 2019 because of the complexity of the situation and the amount of work that's got to be done, including quite a number of legal issues associated with terminating a contract.

“I can update the committee that, earlier this week, we got notice that Lakehouse have gone into administration. We will have to contend with that as an issue as well.”

Parents were informed of the situation in February before a meeting was held at Hackbridge Primary School earlier this month to provide updates.

A council report admits the building may not be ready by this September but officers are working to temporarily accommodate the additional reception pupils on the current London Road site.

Lakehouse, which was sold to Mapps Group Limited last summer, has applied to the High Court for an administration order according to the Construction Enquirer.

The Construction Industry Trade Alliance (CITA) has also reported that Lakehouse is now in administration and the company has since “ceased trading”.