The impact of the credit crunch spread to new parts of the industry this week as it emerged Davis Langdon was cutting staff, while several industry sources said fellow QS Arcadis AYH was also making cuts.

A total of 13 people in Davis Langdon’s London office have lost their jobs after a “number” of projects were cancelled.

It is understood they were told the reduction in workforce was owing to projects being cancelled over the summer and the expectation that tight market conditions would continue into 2010.

Housebuilders and architects have already been hit by redundancies but consultants had yet to be affected by the turbulent market.

Rob Smith, senior partner at Davis Langdon, said: “Our priority is to ensure the people affected have the best support at this time. We will continue to monitor our resources carefully over the months ahead in line with our markets.”

Nigel Shilton, construction analyst at Deloitte, said: “I think it’s too early to say what the extent of redundancies will be in the sector. What you will probably find is it will be individual teams or specialisms or sectors affected.”

Arcadis refused to confirm or deny job cuts. It said: “We continue to monitor the impact of the economy on the construction industry, remain positive and firmly believe that we are in a stronger position as a result of our size, sector diversity and global reach.”