Balfour Beatty to close offices

Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty is consolidating seven of its offices in Scotland in a move partly aimed at cutting costs.

The group, which has existing sites in locations including Edinburgh, Glasgow and Shotts, is relocating the offices into a single base at the Maxim Business Park at Eurocentral off the M8.

The company, which is involved in projects north of the Border including the Dundee Waterfront project and the Aberdeen city bypass, said that the move will “greatly enhance the collaborative offering across the Scottish markets” by bringing together a number of business units and functions under one roof.

It also said the consolidation will significantly reduce the cost of its Scottish office footprint across the Central Belt.

The office reduction is part of the group’s “Build to Last” transformation programme launched by chief executive Leo Quinn two years ago in an effort to return the business to profit.

At the time Quinn said the businesshadbecometoocomplex after a series of takeovers. The company made a £199 million loss in 2015 but returned to profit last year and announcing full-year results in March Quinn said “the transformation of Balfour Beatty is well under way”.

“Having simplified the group, we are focused on our core markets in the UK and US, where governments are committed to large scale expenditure on infrastructure,” he said.

Atitsagmlastweekthecompany said trading remains in line with expectations. More than 20 per cent of shareholders who voted rejected against the firm’s remuneration policy after concerns were raised about plans to raise Quinn’s bonus entitlement.