One of the biggest building firms in the South has gone into receivership with the loss of 150 jobs.

Crawley-based James Longley and Co officially ceased to trade yesterday, after 137 years in the building industry.

All 150 employees have been made redundant and the move will also affect many more sub-contractors, some of whom claim to be owed tens of thousands of pounds.

Speculation about the future of the company had grown after sub-contractors, helping to complete a £1.2 million revamp of Newhaven Fort, did not turn up for work.

Crisis talks were held this weekend to try to save the company after the management admitted it was experiencing serious cash flow problems.

Workers who were meant to be finishing the Millennium Seedbank at Wakehurst Place, near Ardingly, were told not to return by a Longley's foreman last week.

The firm beat off tough competition to win the £12.8 million contract, before finding itself in a financial crisis as sub-contractors demanded money they were owed.

A spokesman for administrative receivers Grant Thornton said the firm, which had an annual turnover of £55 million, had run out of capital due to a number of factors.

He added: "Problems emerged with old contracts tendered for by the previous management team which have led to large sums being tied up in finance accounts.

"The receivers are negotiating some of the contracts to transfer them to other building contractors."

The family-run firm built the controversial Sussex University campus in the Sixties, along with the St Dunstan's headquarters and Christ's Hospital School at Horsham.

It was also responsible for projects including the transformation of Chelsea's Stamford Bridge football stadium and all three grandstands at Goodwood racecourse.

David Bryant, one of the sub-contractors sent home from the Wakehurst Place development, said: "The company was always been good to me and paid up so I can't complain.

"But we are losing out by not being able to complete the work and I know there are company employees who have come off much worse than me."

Staff at the Crawley headquarters were told the news yesterday afternoon.

A marketing executive in her twenties, who has worked at Longley's for more than three years, said: "It is a real shame but to be honest we are not surprised. We knew it was going to happen."

A subsidiary business, Humitec Limited which runs as a calibration laboratory, will continue to trade.