Contractor plans expansion in commercial sector in London alongside the infrastructure and health sectors

Contractor Skanska has said it will create around 1,500 jobs in the UK construction industry over the next two to three years.

The firm said the jobs were necessary for it to service a set of major rail, water building and road contracts won by the company.

It said the job creation formed part of a “period of planned growth and expansion” and that it was focused on expansion in infrastructure; commercial building in London; and the health and pharmaceuticals sectors.

Mike Putnam, president and chief executive of Skanska UK, said: “With more focus on infrastructure investment, we have seen our visible pipeline of new work growing strongly during the last nine months, giving us increased confidence about the future.”

He added: “Having the right people with the right skills in the right numbers is therefore a priority for us. We are accelerating our recruitment activity significantly across all our operations, to fill roles at all levels of the company and in many parts of the UK.”