BAA pledges to avoid mass redundancies on T5

BAA has assured workers that it will try to retain and re-use as many employees as possible to prevent mass redundancies as the next phase of the T5 project starts to roll out.

The project's construction director Andrew Wolstenholme said: "We are working with the unions to make sure the changes go as smooth as possible.

Last year there was a high demand for concrete with Laing O'Rourke using around 1,800 workers.

This will fall to 1,500 within the next two to six months. However, the need for M&E workers is set to rise in 2005/06."

He added: "We did lose some worker numbers after Christmas, which is normal, but those that find themselves without work can be assured that we will do all we can to use them on other sites. We invest a lot of money in retaining our workforce."