Harworth Estates Residential Development has issued petitions against both Derby-based TopHat Communities and Jersey-based parent company TopHat Enterprises.

TopHat Communities, a subsidiary of TopHat Enterprises, is responsible for the deployment of modules on customer sites, where groundworks are required.

The legal action is the latest setback for TopHat, which has laid off staff this year and saw managing director Andrew Shepherd step down in May.

A month before that the modular firm announced it had paused opening a new state-of-the-art 650,000 sq ft factory in Corby.

The Goldman Sachs-backed business has been trading since 2016 with investors – who also include Aviva and Persimmon – pumping in £200m of funding since then.

Last published results for TopHat Industries, a subsidiary of TopHat Enterprise, for the year to October 31 2022 showed pre-tax losses increased to £20.4 from £19.4m last time as turnover dipped to £10.2m from £12.3m while the company employed 212 staff,

Overall accumulated losses stand at around £87m since being established.