Shepherd Homes axes up to a fifth of jobs

York-based Shepherd Homes is making a raft of staff redundancies due to the current downturn in the housing market.

Shepherd Homes, part of Shepherd Group, said it was making between 10 to 20 redundancies out of its 100-strong workforce based at its York head office.

In a statement the £50m turnover company said: “Unfortunately, due to the downturn in current trading conditions within the housing market, it is necessary for Shepherd Homes to reduce its overheads through an anticipated 10 to 20 redundancies. This is being done to consolidate the business’ position and secure the majority of jobs across the company’s total workforce that is in excess of 100 people.

“We have already offered staff the possibility of voluntary redundancy. A number of people have requested this and we are now implementing a consultation process with affected employees over compulsory redundancies. During that process, we will try to minimise further compulsory redundancies by exploring any other opportunities for our staff elsewhere within the Shepherd Group.”

On its website the company lists 13 new developments of luxury houses and apartments it is currently working on throughout Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland.

The firm said it had no plans to follow the lead of some housebuilders in mothballing construction work across sites.

"We are co-ordinating and controlling our work in progress to match anticipated demand," said a spokesman.