Balfour Beatty could shed 600 jobs in restructure

Around 600 jobs are expected to be lost as part of Balfour Beatty’s restructure of its UK construction services division, Building understands.

As first revealed on Building.co.uk, the heavy-weight contractor announced a restructure of its £3.4bn turnover UK construction services arm in March, with the consultation covering all 12,000 construction services staff.

The move was part of a wider drive to realise £50m of savings a year by 2015 and could spell the end for some existing brands, such as Mansell.

The firm has warned that if the restructure proceeds, jobs will be lost, although these are unlikely to be operational staff.

Of the 12,000 employees in its construction services division, around two-thirds are operational staff, leaving about 4,000 at risk.

Early indications suggested up to 1,500 jobs could go, but Building now understands that the actual number of jobs lost is likely to be around 600.

As revealed in Building last month, the firm is focusing on restructuring the UK construction services arm around “three main pillars” of business: regional building and civils; regional M&E; and major infrastructure.

The firm’s UK construction services arm includes contractor Mansell, Balfour Beatty Construction, Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering and Balfour Beatty Engineering Services.

The first phase of the consultation was expected to conclude at the end of April, with a decision to follow on whether to proceed with the restructure.