Almost all the AWPR workers employed by the collapsed construction giant Carillion have gained new jobs on the project with other contractors.
Economy Secretary Keith Brown travelled north from Holyrood yesterday to meet with the firm’s former employees in their new roles at the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route construction site in Milltimber.
He revealed that 57 of the 63 staff who had been employed by Carillion – which went into liquidation on January 15 – have been recruited by the £745million development’s other two contractors, Balfour Beatty and Galliford Try.
Two of the remaining six employees declined offers of continued employment.
Another pair left to work elsewhere, and the final two were made redundant because there were no positions available for them.
Mr Brown insisted Transport Scotland was doing all it could to prevent the Carillion closure from slowing down the final stages of the bypass construction.
Last month, the MSP told a Scottish Parliament committee the intention was for the AWPR to open this spring.
And yesterday, Mr Brown insisted all efforts were being made to stick to that timetable – despite the Carillion collapse.
He said: “If you look at some of the other projects that Carillion has been involved with south of the border, you’ll see that a lot of them are expecting substantial delays, and I’m very keen that shouldn’t happen here.
“The way we have constructed the contract means that the two remaining contractors have the legal obligation to see the project through.
“But what you can’t legislate for, of course, is the impact it could have on the supply chain, so that’s why I am keen to iron out any problems with that.”
When he was asked if he was confident the bypass could be open in Spring Scott Shaw, project manager of the AWPR, said: “Without knowing what the impacts are, it’s difficult to say.”
“Once we know what the impacts are and know what we can do to mitigate them, we can get a greater degree of confidence on that delivery date.
“Mr Brown announced to the Parliament committee last month that the intention remains to open in Spring, but we have to work through and understand these impacts before we can have a greater amount of confidence in a delivery timetable.”
