12 axed in fresh Currie & Brown rejig

A member of the board of consultant Currie & Brown is to leave the firm, along with 11 employees who have been made redundant in a restructuring.

The group’s board has been split in two in the overhaul and the Inverness office in Scotland has been closed.

Euan McEwan, Currie & Brown’s chief executive, confirmed that there would be 11 redundancies and that not all the board members would remain at their current level. He said: “Most people will remain on one of the boards but not everyone, as the roles in the organisation are changing.”

It is understood that one board member will be leaving, although Currie & Brown has not confirmed or denied this.

Three people will lose their jobs in Inverness, three more jobs will be lost in Aberdeen, four in London and one in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. McEwan said there were no further redundancies planned. He said: “Obviously I can’t say there will be no more for ever and a day but in terms of the restructure, that’s it.”

An operations board will now manage the business regionally, while a marketing board will be responsible for initiatives in the public, private, financial and industrial sectors.

In July Building revealed that Currie & Brown was overhauling its business. McEwan said this latest restructure was not another attempt to overhaul the business but a continuation of that plan. He said: “It’s the next step of the restructuring.”

Currie & Brown has had a tempestuous few months fighting off bids from SKM and McBains Cooper. It was also revealed that three directors, and Angus McLean, the then chairman, had been dismissed.

An industrial tribunal is due in January to hold a hearing into a claim of unfair dismissal brought by McLean. McEwan refused to comment on the matter.

In a separate development, consultant Davis Langdon has poached a number of Currie & Brown staff, including Liam Kirby, a divisional director, to boost its Olympic team.