Three insolvency cases in six years end in dissolution for Hertfordshire steel detailer

SDS Steel Design Ltd, a Hertfordshire steel-detailing firm incorporated in January 2013, was dissolved on 10 May 2025 after passing through three separate insolvency procedures over six years.

The company, registered at Devonshire House, Manor Way, Borehamwood, carried out steel detailing work under SIC code 71121, which covers engineering design activities. Its last filed accounts covered the period to 31 January 2022.

The three insolvency cases

The first procedure was a moratorium, a temporary breathing space that pauses creditor action while a rescue plan is developed. That moratorium was appointed on 20 November 2019 and ended on 12 December 2019, with the authorisation signed on the same date. At the time, the company's registered address for insolvency purposes was Matthew House, Matthew Street, Dunstable.

Avner Radomsky (IP number 12290) and Michael Goldstein (IP number 12532), both of RG Insolvency of Devonshire House, Manor Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, acted as joint nominees during the moratorium.

The moratorium gave way to a company voluntary arrangement, or CVA, a formal agreement between a company and its creditors to repay debts over time while the business continues trading. RG Insolvency supervised that CVA. A notice of intended dividends published in the Gazette set 4 March 2022 as the last date for creditors to submit proofs of debt, with claims directed to Radomsky as joint supervisor at the Borehamwood address.

The company did not emerge from difficulty. A creditors' voluntary liquidation, a formal winding-up initiated by the company itself when it cannot pay its debts, was opened in February 2023. Radomsky and Simon Renshaw were appointed as liquidators. The registered office at the time of liquidation was listed as The Mansion House Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedford. A return of final meeting was filed on 10 February 2025, and the final Gazette notice dissolving the company was published on 10 May 2025.

Officers

Ian Roger Martin Gutteridge was a director from incorporation on 7 January 2013 until 6 December 2022, when he resigned and was simultaneously re-appointed, remaining in post through to dissolution. Adam William Gutteridge served as a director from 31 January 2017 and resigned on 10 December 2019, shortly after the moratorium ended.

Secured charge

Bibby Financial Services Limited held an outstanding registered charge over the company, created on 27 April 2017 and delivered to Companies House on 2 May 2017. The charge was structured as a first legal mortgage and covered all land and property interests belonging to the company, including buildings, fixed plant and machinery, easements and proceeds of sale.

For creditors and suppliers

Once a creditors' voluntary liquidation is open, the liquidators take control of the company's assets and handle all creditor correspondence. Creditors submit a proof of debt, the formal claim form used to evidence the amount owed, so that the liquidators can assess and rank claims for distribution.

The moratorium under Schedule B1, paragraph 43 of the Insolvency Act 1986 pauses most creditor enforcement action without leave of the court. In a liquidation, a similar stay applies and creditors generally cannot pursue the company independently. Trade suppliers and customers with unpaid claims rank as unsecured creditors, behind secured creditors such as Bibby Financial Services, and receive distributions only if sufficient assets remain after secured and preferential claims are settled.

Employees with outstanding wages, notice pay or redundancy entitlements rank as preferential creditors for certain amounts. The Redundancy Payments Service exists to meet statutory redundancy and notice pay claims where the employer cannot, advancing payments to eligible employees from the National Insurance Fund.