WS Atkins confirms 210 job cuts in Dubai

WS Atkins Plc, the UK’s biggest engineering design company, plans to cut about 1,000 jobs as clients delay or cancel projects amid a construction slump in Britain and the Middle East.

Atkins, which employed about 18,600 people last summer, will reduce its headcount by five percent, including 210 Dubai employees, England-based company said in a statement on Wednesday, confirming job cuts revealed by Arabian Business last month.

The workers are mainly in its building design business, which has been affected by “uncertainty,” the company said in a report by newswire Bloomberg.

The UK’s construction industry has been hurt by a lack of financing after banks starved firms of credit.

Atkins was also hit by deferred work on projects in Dubai such as Nakheel’s Trump Tower and Tameer Holding’s turbine-shaped Anara Tower, spokesman Ben Thompson said last month.

“The total will be about 1,000,” internal spokeswoman Sara Lipscombe said on Wednesday by phone. “We’ve announced 260 in the UK and 210 in Dubai, and there will be further small pockets by the end of March.”

The statement didn’t say how much the cuts will save the company.