Mace to cut 300 jobs

Mace is to cut 300 jobs in response to the coronavirus crisis, in what chief executive Mark Reynolds said was one of the “hardest decisions” the firm’s leadership had ever had to make.

The job losses – which are the equivalent of around 5% of its workforce – are expected to come from both its UK and international operations over the next three months. Mace said it was doing “everything it can” to ensure that people are able to take new roles elsewhere within the business.

• Coronavirus impact forces 300 redundancies at Keltbray
• Construction expected to shed 10% of workforce by September

Reynolds said the company had already found new roles for around 150 people but warned that redundancies across the group were unavoidable.

In a statement, Reynolds said: “The coronavirus pandemic has
had a significant impact on the markets that Mace operates in across the globe.
Although we hope that many sectors will return to normal within months,
activity in some industries – such as aviation – will be much lower for years
to come.”

“Unfortunately, it is now clear that – as a number of our projects are cancelled or deferred for the foreseeable future – we need to make a number of redundancies across the group.

“This is one of the hardest decisions we have ever taken as
a leadership team and it is not a choice that has been made lightly. We are
consulting with our people at the moment and we will continue to do everything
we can to ensure that as many people as possible are able to find alternative
roles within the business.”

The news came after demolition firm Keltbray announced 300
redundancies this week and Build UK forecast a 10% reduction in the
construction workforce as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent
lockdown.