Accountancy firm Grant Thornton’s advisory team has been appointed administrators to Wales-based Rowecord Engineering Limited, which went into administration with the potential loss of several hundred jobs.

Alistair Wardell, senior partner at the Wales office of Grant Thornton in Cardiff, will lead the administration of the UK's third-largest structural steel engineering company.

Rowecord, which until recently employed over 500 staff at sites in Newport, Baglan and the Tata Steelworks in Port Talbot, built the roof at the London Olympics Aquatic Centre, as well as the stadiums for Cardiff City Football club and the Llanelli Rugby Club (Parc y Scarlets).

It is currently working on major projects at the Dover Docks and the British Museum and recently built the blast furnace for Tata at Port Talbot, where it has 120 people on site providing general maintenance.

In calling in administrators, Newport-based Rowecord’s Managing Director Andrew Hoppe said the company had “exhausted every option to sustain the business for the future.”

Administrator Alistair Wardell said: “This is a devastating blow, not just for the Rowecord workforce which will be affected, but for the Welsh economy as a whole.

“It is also likely to have an impact on a number of other companies along the M4 corridor that up until now have been suppliers to Rowecord.

“Among our roles as administrators will be to explore which, if any, parts of the business can be salvaged and whether any jobs can be saved.

“A number of Rowecord employees will be retained in the short term post-administration to complete work in progress.”