Another housebuilder announces plan to cut jobs

Telford Homes is the next housebuilder to say it is making job cuts because of the problems facing the sector in the past few weeks following September’s mini-Budget.

The Hertfordshire firm, which is owned by a developer backed by CBRE, said it had begun a consultation process with its 300-plus staff.

According to its last set of accounts, the firm employed 335 people last year with 97 in construction and the remainder working in administration.

The firm declined to comment on suggestions up to 10% of staff could be axed, adding: “The proposals could potentially impact roles within a number of teams across the Telford Homes business.

“The exact details of how each team would be affected by the proposals is confidential in order to respect the consultation processes of affected individuals.”

Explaining its decision, Telford, which last year improved turnover 92% to £282m but sank to a £14m pre-tax loss from a £1.7m profit the year before, said: “As a result of the current macro-economic environment placing pressure on both delivery and investment in the housing market, we have made the difficult decision to begin a cost-cutting process, including employee redundancies.

“This will enable us to drive efficiencies in our business, remain resilient to external pressures and continue to deliver for our customers and partners.”

Last week, Building revealed that Watkin Jones was set to make 10% of its staff, around 40 roles, redundant in the wake of the market turmoil caused by the mini-Budget in September.

The listed firm, which specialises in specialises in built-to-rent and student housing, issued a profit warning last month saying its full year operating profit would be around 10% lower than expected because of the “volatility” hitting sales.

On Friday, Gleeson said the impact of the mini-Budget has meant that cancellation rates in the past six weeks have doubled to more than 40%.

As a result, it said the number of homes it sells this year could drop by 20% to 1,600 – down from the 2,000 it sold last year.