An Essex wall and flooring company that had been trading for two decades has gone into liquidation.

Chelmer Group was based at Wycke Hill Business Park Wycke Hill Maldon, where it opened up a showroom last September to the public and commercial market, selling floors, carpets, tiles and finishes.

Last year, the company secured interior finishing projects as far afield as Norwich, Glasgow and Coventry.

Although Chelmer Group only directly employed 12 people, it also managed a large sub-contract labour force and its website boasted of a workforce “in excess of 50 operatives” and a £4m turnover.

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Nick Cusack of Parker Andrews in Norwich was today appointed liquidator.

From the figures provided in the director’s report, the company had £445,000 outstanding to creditors, including £200,000 due to the peer to peer funding platform the Funding Circle, and around £30,000 due to HMRC in respect of PAYE.

Simply Floors and Walls (Essex) limited and Chelmer Flooring Limited, which are under the umbrella group of companies, are also facing liquidation.

According to the Chelmer Group’s website, Jamie Brown, who was the Chelmer Group’s secretary, has been working in the flooring industry for over 25 years. He began a career in the banking industry, working at a senior level at the Bank of Nova Scotia, then took the decision to follow in the footsteps of three family generations and pursue a career in the flooring industry.

Building upon this, Mr Brown set up Chelmer Flooring Ltd in 1999 and to compliment its work, he opened subsidiary companies Blackwater Surface Preparation Ltd, a division focusing on flooring preparation which was dissolved in 2015, and Resin Design Ltd, specialising in resin finishes, which was dissolved in 2014.

Chelmer Group’s director was Jamie’s wife, Janet Brown.

The company worked for clients including M&S, Ikea, Debenhams, Tesco, the Berkeley Group and Vauxhall Motors.

It was a member of The Tile Association and Carpet Recycling UK, and was recognised for its vinyl recycling efforts.