Concerns over firm hired to work on beloved castle

CONCERNS have been raised over the choice of subcontractor for a key conservation project at a beloved Welsh tourist attraction.

- CONOR GOGARTY

SSH Conservation Ltd - which last month changed its name to AAT (2025) Ltd - recently fell into administration owing more than £1.25m.

A new company, led by one of the same directors, has taken on the SSH Conservation Ltd name and landed a major contract to work on Castell Coch, a 19th-century Gothic Revival castle in Tongwynlais, north Cardiff.

The older firm's debts include £956,576 owed to the taxman but the Welsh Government says it has been assured "all necessary due diligence" was carried out in the tender.

The Grade I-listed landmark is controlled by Cadw, the Welsh Government's historic environment service, which has contracted a £2.52m conservation job involving the castle's well and kitchen towers to John Weaver Contractors Ltd - which in turn has now subcontracted a portion of the upcoming work to SSH.

A source close to the project claimed to the Western Mail that the value of the work contracted to SSH is around £500,000.

Companies House paperwork lists the older company’s debts as totalling £1,256,834 to some 86 creditors, including various small businesses and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). “Employees” are listed as unsecured creditors owed £44,188.

“The company had 21 employees,” the administrators wrote last month.