Up to 80 jobs at risk as housebuilder Stewart Milne Homes slims down amid pandemic

Construction firm Stewart Milne Group is to overhaul its homes division in a move that will result in up to 80 job losses.

Stewart Milne Homes North and Stewart Milne Homes Central will become a single business - Stewart Milne Homes Scotland - the group announced. Picture: Newsline Media

Stewart Milne Homes North and Stewart Milne Homes Central will become a single business – Stewart Milne Homes Scotland, the Aberdeen-headquartered group announced today.

The firm said that Covid-imposed restrictions resulted in the loss of nearly three months of trading which has “inevitably impacted on financial performance”.

But since coming out of the initial lockdown, Stewart Milne Group has reported a strong sales performance across Scotland and north-west England, particularly in Tayside, the Central Belt and popular commuter areas in north-west England.

Chief executive Stuart MacGregor said: “Our recent annual business plan process assessed the likely market demand in each of the housing markets in which we operate.

“As a result of this, we are combining our Scottish operations to ensure we have the right resources in the right places and can leverage the benefits of our newly developed consistent ways of working and standards of excellence in design, build and marketing.

“Regrettably, our restructure will impact on jobs and we are embarking on a consultation process which will put 60 to 80 posts at risk of redundancy in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Manchester from a total of almost 1,000.

“This is not a decision we have taken lightly, but one based on what is best for the longer-term future of the business, protecting the majority of jobs and ensuring we are better positioned for growth in the next five years.”

He added: “We fully appreciate that this is a painful process given the current economic climate where many more people are also facing uncertainty. We are committed to managing the process as efficiently, fairly and transparently as possible.”

Jonathan Fair, currently managing director of Stewart Milne Homes Central, will head up the combined division with Neil Thomson, regional director for Stewart Milne Homes North, becoming deputy managing director.

The group’s timber systems business, a major player in the design and manufacture of timberframes for off-site construction, continues to perform strongly and its workforce of almost 400 people, in Aberdeen and Witney, is not affected by the restructure.

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