The jobs of up to 40 workers are in jeopardy after a Bradford construction company went into administration.

Ham Construction, based in Bradford for 40 years, has called in administrators following a difficult period of trading.

Joe McLean, a partner at administrators Grant Thornton, said it was too early to speculate on the company's future and the security of its employees' jobs.

He said that a recent strategy of developing contracts and selling them had been loss- making and this, combined with cash flow problems and an increasingly competitive market, led to the decision to put the company into administration.

Mr McLean said: "A combination of losses, cash flow pressures arising from those losses and external pressure from a competitive building industry have become difficult.

"Faced with that pressure from losses and from creditors, along with cash flow issues, in total meant they were unable to continue to trade.

"This is a very well established and reputable business which has been in the industry for 40 years and has a reputation for doing quality building work with a variety of well known names.

"I spent all day yesterday with directors and senior staff and will be working to establish the financial situation of the business before making any decisions."

Mr McLean added that staff were in work as normal while his team carried out their investigations.

"The business is in a state of flux and people are coming to terms with the administration and the disappointment," he said. Ham Construction has a long history in Bradford. It was founded by Bobby Ham, a celebrated goalscorer and later director of Bradford City, and his footballer brother Allan. They were also promoters of speedway in Bradford. Bobby retired from the company in 2001 with Allan taking over as managing director.

The firm relocated to new premises in 2005 off the M606 motorway. The opening ceremony was carried out by Sir Ken Morrison, boss of the Bradford-based supermarket chain. Among the projects Ham Construction had been working on was the painstaking reconstruction of the facade of Eastbrook Hall in Little Germany.

The frontage of the 103-year-old structure became unstable during March 2006 and structural engineers decided it would be safer to dismantle.

Alan McMahon, director at London-based Aldersgate Estates, the company behind the development, said that Ham's difficulties would not affect the building work and that it was on course for competition around May next year.

e-mail: mark.casci @bradford.newsquest.co.uk