Rok builders make more Scottish job cuts

Efforts to find a buyer for the social housing and English construction business continue

The Scottish division of collapsed construction firm Rok has failed to find a buyer, resulting in a further 294 workers being made redundant.

The job losses bring the Scottish total to 768 over the past week, with only 38 being kept on temporarily to handle the company's wind-down.

The latest announcement was part of 1,800 Rok job losses across Britain.

Only 500 still work for the construction and social housing division in England.

For Scotland, the axe will fall on 106 jobs in Inverness, 78 in Glasgow, 84 across central Scotland, 15 in Dundee and 11 in management posts. These have included the former Tulloch and Dickie construction companies.

Alan Brown, one of the administrators at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, said: "Over the last 24 hours it became clear that we were not going to be able to find a buyer for the Scottish business and other parts of the group across the UK.

"Due to this and other economic factors, we have had to take the hard decision to close the Scottish construction division, impacting 294 people in a number of locations, and the maintenance and improvements division in the UK.

"A small workforce has been retained to assist with this process."

Since Rok was handed over to administrators on 8 November, there has been a struggle to find buyers for parts of the business. The plumbing, electrical and heating business was closed last week.

Then Tulloch construction and Rok Civil Engineering lost a further 87 jobs on Monday, with the biggest impact across the Highlands and Dundee.

Mr Brown said a helpline has been set up for those facing redundancy, and that they would be paid for the period since the company went into administration.