Balfour Beatty to close Rochdale business

Infrastructure firm Balfour Beatty Plc is to close its operation in Rochdale. The company says the business is "no longer sustainable".

Three locations are to be to be closed, as well Rochdale, Dartford, southeast of London, and Doncaster in the north will also close. Collectively they account for around 8 per cent of the UK regional business, which generated 1.5 billion pounds in revenue in 2012, of a group total of £9.5 billion.

A spokesman for the company said: "Within the Regional business a review of the viability of the 21 delivery units has been an area of particular focus. At our location in Dartford we have advised employees of our proposal to close this location due to a combination of insufficient construction activity and a disproportionately high cost base. This could result in a small number of job losses and the relocation of individuals. In the South West we are actively addressing specific operational issues across a handful of projects.

"As part of the wider business review, we have also identified that two smaller locations in Rochdale and Doncaster are no longer sustainable and again, employees have been advised of our proposal to close these offices. These three locations collectively account for around 8% of the UK Regional business which generated £1.5 billion of revenue in 2012."