Latest cost-cutting move will take engineer's redundancy toll up to 354, and signals a continuing battle for the sector

Arup has confirmed plans for another 99 redundancies, four months after it laid off 255 staff.

The news comes in the same week rival engineer Halcrow revealed it is consulting on plans to axe up to 269 jobs and signals a continuing battle for the sector, despite renewed optimism in the wider economy.

The latest cost-cutting move from Arup will take its redundancy tally up to 354 of its 10,000 staff or 3.5%. The job losses at Halcrow meanwhile will equal about 6% of its 4,200 UK staff, if all 269 go at the end of the 30-day consultation.

An Arup spokesperson said: "Our people are our greatest asset and it is with regret that the difficult decision has been taken to implement a further programme of limited redundancies during the third quarter of 2009."

We have begun a statutory 30-day consultation period with relevant staff in the UK, and we are doing everything that we can to ensure the redundancy programme is handled with transparency and sensitivity."

On Tuesday, Halcrow said it expected the engineering consultancy sector to continue to see reduced activity, or even further deterioration, through 2010 and beyond.

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