My uncle worked in construction in Ayrshire for thirty years. When I mentioned to Andrew Wright Windows closure in Irvine to him last week, his face dropped. “That can’t be right,” he said. “They’ve been around forever.”
Forever turned out to be 87 years. Started in 1937 and closed in August 2025. Just like that.
The Day Everything Stopped
6th August 2025. Staff at Andrew Wright Windows in Irvine arrived for work on a normal Tuesday. Some had been on customer appointments that morning. Others were in the showroom or the factory. Then at 2:30 pm, everyone got called back.
One employee told the Irvine Times what happened next: “We came into the showroom and were told that that was us finished. No garden leave. No notice. Just done.”
Eighty-three people lost their jobs that day. Sixty-five from Andrew Wright Windows, eighteen from the sister company, Andrew Wright Glass. Some were on annual leave and didn’t even get officially told. They found out through texts from colleagues or saw it on social media.
Has Andrew Wright Windows gone bust? Yes, completely. Opus Restructuring & Insolvency was appointed as the joint provisional liquidators. The company entered liquidation. Game over.
How Did This Happen?
The Andrew Wright closure wasn’t some overnight disaster. It had been building for two years, ever since Mark Bradford and Jamie Fraser bought the company from the founders in August 2023.
They paid good money for what they thought was a solid business. An 87-year-old company with a brilliant reputation, manufacturing facilities in Irvine, over 80 skilled workers, and contracts with councils and housing associations. On paper, it looked decent.
Then the construction industry nosedived. Sales dropped 35% for the windows side and 60% for the glass side. Raw material costs shot up. Staff costs kept rising. Contract tendering became a nightmare. Cashflow problems got worse and worse.
The directors tried everything. Won new contracts earlier this year. Made operational changes. Cut costs where they could. Nothing worked. The hole was too deep.
Bradford and Fraser released a statement saying, “This is a profoundly sad moment for all at Andrew Wright. Over two years, we have done everything we could to turn the business around, but the challenges have proved insurmountable.”
The Brutal Timing
Here’s what makes this even worse. The same day Andrew Wright shut down, North Ayrshire Council announced the company had just won a contract worth nearly £200,000. New work coming in, orders on the books, and suddenly the doors close.
One employee who’d worked there nearly ten years said, “We know the sales were coming in; we had several large commercial contracts; the work was there.”
So what happened? The liquidators reckon cash flow killed them. You can have orders coming in, but if you can’t pay your bills today, you’re finished. The construction sector’s been brutal lately. Companies wait months for payment. Suppliers want cash up front. Staff need to be paid weekly. The numbers just stopped working.
The Human Cost
Forget the financial stuff for a minute. Eighty-three people woke up on 6th August thinking they had jobs. By 3 pm, they were jobless.
One mum who’d been there a decade said, “I loved my job. We had a fantastic team, and yesterday came as a massive shock to us all; it was so unexpected and felt really unfair. I have no idea what I will do now, as I’m a mum and my job worked around the school pick-ups and drop-offs.”
Another employee came into work days after a close family member died. They went to customer appointments that morning because they didn’t want to let anyone down. Got called back at 2:30 pm. Found out they were redundant. Had to hand in their company equipment and company car. Got a lift home because they had no way to get there.
No garden leave. No notice period. Just done.
What ANDREW WRIGHT Windows Companies House Records Show
Looking at ANDREW WRIGHT Windows Companies House records now, the company’s listed as “Liquidation” status. The registered office changed to the liquidators’ address in Glasgow. The last accounts were for December 2023, before things really went wrong.
The company was incorporated back in May 2010, though the Andrew Wright name goes back to 1937. Different legal entities over the years, but the same family business until 2023.
Andrew Wright Windows reviews before the closure were brilliant. Near-100% customer approval ratings. People loved the quality, the service, and the fact it was a proper Scottish company doing things right. All that goodness, all that reputation built over decades, gone in an afternoon.
The Wider Picture
Mark Harper from Opus Restructuring said the Andrew Wright Windows news is “another indicator of the challenges and economic headwinds currently facing the Scottish construction sector.”
He’s not wrong. Construction in Scotland’s been hammered lately. New builds have slowed right down. Councils are cutting budgets. Housing associations are being more cautious. Private customers are holding off on home improvements because money’s tight.
Supply chains are a mess, too. Everything costs more, be it PVC, glass, aluminium, everything. Energy bills for manufacturing have gone through the roof. Staff costs keep rising because of minimum wage increases and inflation. Profit margins have vanished.
Andrew Wright had glazed the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow back in the day. Worked on the 1938 British Empire Exhibition. Helped rebuild Belfast after the 1941 Blitz. This wasn’t some dodgy cowboy outfit. This was an established company with a history and credentials.
Didn’t matter. When the numbers don’t work, they don’t work.
What Happens Now
North Ayrshire Council organised a PACE (Partnership Action for Continuing Employment) drop-in session on 13th August at Landek House in Irvine. Skills Development Scotland, CEIS Ayrshire, and the Department for Work and Pensions turned up to help the 83 redundant workers.
They got advice on claiming redundancy payments, help with CVs, job search support, benefits information, and funding for training. All the stuff you need when you’ve just lost your job with zero warning.
Some will land on their feet quickly. Skilled glaziers and window fitters are in demand. Others, especially office staff and management, might struggle more. The Ayrshire job market isn’t exactly booming right now.
Customers who’d paid deposits are probably stuffed too. When a company goes into liquidation, you join the queue of creditors. You’ll get pennies on the pound if you’re lucky.
What This Means for Ayrshire
Losing an 87-year-old company hurts more than just the 83 employees. It’s the suppliers who won’t get paid. The local shops that lose customers. The families affected. The skill and knowledge walk out the door.
My uncle reckons this is just the start. “If Andrew Wright couldn’t survive, how many other small construction firms are hanging on by a thread?” he asked.
He’s probably right to worry. The construction sector is facing the same problems everywhere. Rising costs, falling demand, cashflow nightmares, and late payments. Businesses that looked solid five years ago are wobbling now.
The Lesson Nobody Wants
The Andrew Wright Windows Closure Irvine story is a warning. You can do everything right, from having a great reputation, skilled staff, and good products to winning new contracts, and still go under if the economic conditions turn against you.
Bradford and Fraser bought a company they thought they could save. Spent two years trying. Lost the lot anyway. They’re probably personally liable for debts now. Their investment’s gone. Their business is finished.
The founders who sold in 2023 got out at exactly the right time. Whether they knew what was coming or just got lucky, they dodged a bullet. Two years later, and there’d have been nothing to sell.
Final Thoughts
Eighty-seven years. Three generations. From glazing prestigious buildings in the 1930s to domestic double glazing in the 2020s. Survived World War II, multiple recessions, industry changes, everything.
Then two years of economic headwinds, and it’s over. Makes you wonder what other long-established businesses are quietly struggling right now. How many more Andrew Wright Windows news stories will we see before this construction downturn ends?
For the 83 people who lost their jobs that Tuesday in August, the ‘why’ doesn’t matter much. They’re still out of work. Still trying to find something new. Still dealing with the shock of how quickly it all ended.
My uncle has the right to be sad about it. When companies like Andrew Wright go under, we lose more than just jobs. We lose institutional knowledge, apprenticeships, and local economic anchors. The stuff that holds communities together.
The liquidators are doing their job. The support agencies are helping where they can. But an 87-year-old Scottish company is gone, and that’s something Ayrshire won’t get back.
