Founded in 1984, the Paisley-headquartered, which also operated from an office in Rochdale, was a prominent designer, installer, and servicer of medical, dental, laboratory, and industrial gas pipelines. HPI had built a substantial client base across the construction, dental and medical sectors, including several NHS Health Boards.

The administration was caused by a marked downturn in trade, rising operating costs and low margin contracts, all of which contributed to recent trading losses and unsustainable cash flow problems. Despite the best efforts of the directors to return the company to profitability, the decision was made to place the business into administration to protect the interests of creditors.

HPI, which at its peak had a turnover of approximately £3 million and employed 25 staff, has ceased trading. Unfortunately, 22 employees have been made redundant with 3 being retained by the joint administrators to assist with the administration process and with safeguarding the Company’s assets. The joint administrators will provide as much assistance as possible to those staff affected by redundancy including liaising with the Redundancy Payments Office and employment support organisations such as PACE.

Joint administrator Mr Milne said: “HPI was a highly regarded specialist in the field of medical gas pipeline installation and maintenance, providing an essential service to the medical sector, including hospitals and dental practices across the UK.

“The business was suffering from a number of operational and financial challenges and was coming under mounting creditor pressure. The directors sought professional advice on their options and ultimately concluded that the company should be placed into administration.”

He added: “We will now focus on assisting the employees with their claims for redundancy and other entitlements and on marketing the company’s assets for sale. The joint administrators would encourage interested parties to contact the Glasgow office of Azets as soon as possible.”

Assets for sale include the former trading premises at Duke Street, Paisley, a fleet of around 15 commercial vans, a quantity of stock and some equipment.