UK Edition
Kier takes on Carillion staff for HS2 and motorways work
Kier has taken on around 200 of Carillion’s former employees as it assumes responsibility for construction work on UK motorways and the High Speed Two rail line.
The company is now in a 50/50 joint venture with French company Eiffage for two civil engineering contracts for the new high speed line. All 51 Carillion employees that had previously been hired under the original three-way contract have transferred to the new partnership.
Kier has also taken on Highways England’s smart motorways schemes, which it had been working on with Carillion prior to the collapse last week.
Around 150 employees, including seven apprentices, who had been employed by Carillion will move to Kier in the next week. Kier said it is in discussions with existing suppliers to ensure “continuity of skills, resources and suppliers”.
Kier said on Monday that the contracts were “performing well, operationally and financially”. The Government had been criticised for continuing to award contracts, including the HS2 deal, to Carillion after it had warned on profits last year, but Theresa May, the Prime Minister, last week defended the decision, pointing out that the joint venture structure was in place to guarantee the work.
Haydn Mursell, chief executive of Kier, said: “We have been able to take action quickly and reassure the project teams that they continue to play an important role in the delivery of these contracts.”
Kier also said it had also won a number of other new contracts, including a £160m contract to build a new biosciences facility in Harlow, Essex, for Public Health England.
Additionally, it won a five-year £31m network distribution operation for SGN Natural Gas in Northern Ireland, and a £40m contract extension to 2022 with Phoenix Natural Gas in Northern Ireland. It has also recently signed a one-year £30m extension to 2020 for a contract with Network Rail.
Elsewhere, another 76 Carillion workers employed on a £550m Aberdeen bypass scheme – known as the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route – have been offered jobs by its joint venture partners Galliford Try and Balford Beatty.
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “Aberdeen Roads Limited has confirmed there are 76 Carillion staff on the AWPR site and we understand that both Galliford Try and Balfour Beatty will offer jobs to allow progression of work on the project. The construction partners have reaffirmed their commitment to completing the works.”
The companies are the latest to announce the transfer of former Carillion employees to their own books.
Last week, Nationwide secured jobs for around 1,750 people by moving cleaning and catering services previously provided by Carillion in-house.