Hope for redundant UBC staff
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EFFORTS are under way to secure the jobs of some of the 98 Inverness workers made redundant on Friday following the collapse of building firm UBC.
The Inverness Courier has learned that a range of interested parties are trying to ensure that the £6 million contract UBC was working for the Beauly-Denny overhead power line continues to benefit local employment.
It is not yet clear how this will be achieved, but if successful it is likely a number of the UBC workers would be rehired.
A spokesman for administrator Zolfo Cooper declined to discuss the matter yesterday, saying talks were at a sensitive stage.
“All parties are exploring a range of options which would allow the Beauly to Denny line to be fulfilled,” he stated.
Balfour Beatty, the principal contractor for Scottish and Southern Energy’s £550 million Beauly to Denny project, awarded the £6 million contract to UBC. Yesterday a spokesman confirmed it was in discussions about the long- term solution for the contract.
Meanwhile, describing the collpase of UBC as “devastating”, Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber and minister for energy, enterprise and tourism, confirmed he had been involved in discussions for the past few days in attempts to save jobs.
“As MSP and minister I’m doing everything possible to protect as many of the jobs as we can and as much of the business and UBC contracts as we can,” he said.
Despite not going into details about the talks, Mr Ewing, who yesterday met Highland construction bosses at the Kingsmills Hotel in Inverness to discuss ways to help the industry, was keen to stress that strenuous efforts are being made to save jobs.
“We’re pulling out the stops to do everything we can, I can’t go into the details but be rest assured the Scottish Government is working with Highland Council and Zolfo Cooper to get the best result for saving as much of it as possible.”
William Gray, the managing director of William Gray construction, who is also the president of the Highland Building Employers Association, hopes no more construction firms will collapse in the area.
“It’s a devastating blow to the industry and to the families and everyone affected by it,” he said.
A dark cloud descended onhovered over the Highland construction industry last week when it was announced that UBC, which was based in Henderson Drive, went into administration with the loss of 98 jobs in Inverness, 90 in the Western Isles, 45 in Bathgate and five in Glasgow.
The company, traded as UBC Group, Wyvis Building Services, Wyvis Roofing and Mardon Project Services, has a turnover of around £31 million.
However, Wyvis Roofing remained unaffected and the administrators are still hopeful of selling the business which would save about 30 jobs.
