FURIOUS locals are demanding answers about a £62m development which came to a sudden halt after the firm fell into administration.
The scheme to build 257 new flats in Ashford descended into chaos after contractor Vidi Construction went bust in September.
And since then the eyesore building site has been left frozen in time.
The £62.3 million project in Victoria Road was meant to transform the long-derelict Powergen plot with hundreds of rental homes, a gym and co-working space.
Instead, huge empty blocks now tower over the town centre.
Residents say building work “suddenly stopped” without warning and the once-busy site has looked abandoned for months.
“I walk past the site regularly and was very surprised when it stopped,” one local said.
“It is a huge multimillion-pound development so it seemed strange for the construction to grind to a halt like that.
“Let’s hope they sort out a solution quickly and can finish the development because it is a very prominent site that needs completing.”
Vidi Construction had already delivered the first batch of 143 homes on the opposite side of the road.
The company collapsed in the autumn after almost ten years in business.
It employed around 40 staff and used up to 200 subcontractors.
The Coventry-based firm had teamed up with Starlight Investments, which bought the land last year.
Starlight had planned for completion in late 2025 but that target is now up in the air.
Vidi’s accounts showed turnover of £39.5 million and a pre-tax profit of £519,800 in the year to March 2023.
The firm held net assets of £3.5 million.
It had warned of growing pressure from Covid, Brexit, rising living costs and inflation before administrators from Horsfields were appointed by the High Court.
Several homes in the first phase are already occupied and others are being marketed for between £210,000 and £420,000 by North Properties Group.
The future of the unfinished second phase is unknown. Starlight continues to state online that the site is still scheduled for completion in late 2025.
The project has been talked about since 2005 and was approved by Ashford Borough Council in 2016.
Construction finally began in 2021 on what was hoped would be a major regeneration of Victoria Road.
Instead, one of Ashford’s most important development sites now sits silent once again.
The Sun has approached Starlight and Vidi Construction for comment.
