Clients, architects and contractors respond to recession

Tesco has said it will axe 30 staff from its property division as part of plans to dramatically scale back its mixed-use development work.

The client, which carries out about £1.4bn of building work in the UK, will also lay off about half of its land acquisition team of around 12 people, reports Building.

Among those leaving is property development director Patrick Stones, who led mixed-use development in the South-east, including a £400m scheme in Woolwich. His team of five has been disbanded, with three made redundant. Stones said: ‘Tesco was reluctant to use its limited capital on non-Tesco investment.’

In a further sign of the times, a major consultancy has warned that hundreds of architectural and engineering jobs may be lost unless urgent action is taken to kick- start the stalled Learning and Skills Council college-building programme.

Atkins, which is working on 13 refurbishment contracts under the LSC programme and is shortlisted for another eight, has urged the government to act fast to avoid redundancies.

Speaking to Building Design, Paul Dollin, Atkins’ managing director for design and engineering said: ‘At peak we would expect to have around 250 staff employed on LSC projects with the contracts we have won and any threat to that work could have an obvious impact. This is especially true now when the market is not providing as many opportunities, making it harder to relocate staff in the short term.’

Meanwhile, members of the Federation of Master Builders are waiting to hear news of annual wage negotiations with the Unite union. In the downturn, the FMB is hoping for a wage freeze that would help its members cope with falling workloads.

The levels are usually announced in March, ahead of implementation in June, but have been delayed for the second year in a row.

Rob Gutteridge, managing director of Rob Gutteridge Construction, told Building: 'if the increase goes above what we’re hoping for, it could have a profound impact on the business.'