Engineering and construction company, Keltbray has revealed it plans to cut 300 jobs over the next few months as the impact of Covid-19 continues
Keltbray has announced a wave of redundancies in response to the economic impact of coronavirus.
The company said it has acted “decisively and responsibly” over the past three months, but due to the ongoing impact of the virus, it would “need to go further to emerge stronger for the future”.
Keltbray’s support functions and in its built environment division look set to take the biggest hit, while its infrastructure division will remain unaffected.
In a statement, Darren James, chief executive officer of Kelbray, commented: “The effects of the Covid19 pandemic continue to change our way of life in ways that were unforeseen only three months ago.
“As many companies were forced to cease operations, the construction industry was encouraged to adopt new Government-backed working practices and continue delivering essential services.
“Keltbray has acted decisively and responsibly during the past three months to protect our people and safeguard the business. By furloughing a third of our workforce and introducing temporary salary reductions, we have protected jobs, while continuing to support the national effort.
“However, the ongoing impacts of the virus on the wider economy are unavoidable and we will need to go further to emerge stronger for the future.”
‘Create a more efficient business’
James added: “Therefore, over the next few weeks we will be consulting with UK-based employees across Keltbray on plans to create a more efficient business as part of our ongoing response to the crisis.
“The reality is that these proposals will result in a reduction in the number of roles in our support functions and in the built environment division in particular.
“We are therefore proposing to make 300 roles redundant over the coming months. There will be no impact in our infrastructure division, which continues to operate at near normal, pre-crisis levels.
“In taking this difficult action, we will match the size of our cost base to our predicted work volumes in our traditional building sectors, particularly in London.
“By ensuring we run our business in a lean and efficient way, incorporating productivity gains developed through our response to the pandemic, including the widespread adoption of mobile working, we will continue to provide high quality, high value services to our clients, and maintain our financial resilience to deliver our growth strategy as the markets recover.”
