Redundancies come as steel specialist implements restructure

Cheesegrater Leadenhall Building

Steel specialist Severfield-Rowen has announced plans cut around 93 jobs.

The firm said the job losses resulted from its ongoing restructure to integrate three of its UK businesses into newly-formed Severfield-Watson Structures.

The redundancies will be in the firm’s manufacturing facilities at Lostock, Lancashire, and at its commercial offices in South Normanton, Derbyshire.

A company spokesman said: “Today’s announcement is a necessary step to address underlying operational inefficiencies within the business and allow the wider Severfield-Rowen Group to compete effectively in the challenging UK construction market.

“It marks the conclusion of the previously announced reorganisation process at the Severfield-Watson business and will provide a level of operating capacity that is appropriate to prevailing market demand levels”.

The firm announced in November that it was merging three of its businesses – Severfield-Rowen Structures, Watson Steel Structures and Steelcraft Erection Services.

The UK’s largest steelwork contractor has had a difficult 12 months, including a £48m rights issue, a £20m hit to profits from cost overruns and the resignation of chief executive Tom Haughey.

Severfield-Rowen has been hit by cost overruns on some of its largest projects, including the Shard and the under-construction Cheesegrater tower.

Chairman John Dodds stepped in to run the firm as executive chairman in January.