The firm, established 20 years ago, was owned by former Birse director Ian Threadgold and architect Kevin Hargreaves.

It initially worked for Sainsbury’s and the Highways Agency as a construction management firm.

From there it diversified into a main building contractor specialising in design and build work reaching a turnover of around £35m from offices in Warrington and Lancaster.

Lindsey Cooper and Diana Frangou from Baker Tilly Restructuring and Recovery have been appointed joint administrators to the construction firm and its parent company, Aprilis Holdings.

A third business, Globe Construction Management is expected to enter Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation.

The firms ceased to trade with immediate effect yesterday and around 60 staff were made redundant.

A small number of staff members have been retained in the short-term to help the administrators carry out their duties.

Former Birse director Ian Threadgold joined Globe in 2002 and helped to grow the firm into a major regional builder.

The administrators have appointed an independent firm of quantity surveyors to assist in reviewing around 20 ongoing building projects across the north west, for a range of private and public sector clients.

Lindsey Cooper, a restructuring and recovery partner at Baker Tilly said: “The financial issues faced by the business were such that the directors had little choice but to place the companies into administration.

“Regrettably, we have had to make around 60 staff redundant, and our specialist employee team has been assisting them to make claims with the Redundancy Payments Office.”