NINETY jobs have been saved with the sale of the housebuilding division of Deeside-based David McLean group to a new company.

Elan Homes has been formed by the former senior management team of David McLean Homes, led by former group finance director John Kendrick, and is backed by Barclays Bank.

The sale will hopefully be good news for McLean’s housing scheme on the opposite side of the railway viaduct to Chester Racecourse where the developer has still to complete the fourth and final phase of a £20m project including 200 apartments.

The company also has an option to build apartments on the race company’s former stables at Linenhall but this expires next March.

Elan Homes acquired David McLean Homes for an undisclosed sum from joint administrators Nick Edwards, Bill Dawson and Carlton Siddle, of business advisory service Deloitte, who were appointed on October 27.

The administrators continued to trade the homes business as attempts continued to find a buyer but the loss-making contracting division of David McLean was closed last month.

The group as a whole employed 320 staff, about 120 of them at its Deeside Industrial Park headquarters, but 134 were made redundant last month, most of them in the contracting side. The sale to Elan Homes has saved just over a quarter of the jobs in the former group.

A spokesman for Elan homes said in a statement: “The management team would like to thank Barclays Bank for their support in providing both equity and senior debt funding, and also the staff at David McLean for their continued work and encouragement during the process.”

Bill Dawson, joint administrator, said: “We are delighted to have been able to secure a going concern sale of the house building business to Elan Homes.

“This sale will preserve a significant number of jobs, and also represents best value for the creditors of the David McLean group. Elan Homes has a strong management team and a strong financial base, and we are confident that they will be able to take the business forward on a stable footing.”