Bovis Homes and Urban Splash announce more job cuts

Bovis Homes and Urban Splash have both announced a second round of redundancies driven by the economic slump.

Bovis could make up to 200 more staff redundant as a result of the housing downturn. It would follow the loss of 400 employees in July, which shrank its workforce from about 930 to 530.

Meanwhile, northern regeneration developer Urban Splash has said it will lay off staff in its northern contracting arm.

Urban Splash also refused to reveal the extent of the possible cuts but it follows an earlier round of job cuts several weeks ago in which 60 of its 280 staff left the company.

Bovis confirmed it would make further redundancies and an announcement would be made in January, although it refused to comment on speculation that the number could be as high as 200.

A spokeswoman said no Urban Splash staff outside the Build North division would be affected. She added: “For the first time in Urban Splash’s history there are much fewer schemes in the pipeline than we had expected.”

Last month Urban Splash, which had a turnover of £56.9m last year, said it would look to rent homes in order to avoid the worst effects of the credit crunch.

One City analyst said more cuts could follow elsewhere: “There still seems to be quite a lot that can still be chipped away at housebuilders. All bets are off in this industry at the moment.”