Bosses at construction giant Kier Group are eyeing potential new projects across the north and north-east to build on an already “robust” pipeline of activity in Scotland.
Gordon Reid, business development manager for Kier’s construction arm in Scotland, said Kier was paying particular attention to Lochaber, where entrepreneur Sanjeev Gupta is establishing an alloy car wheels factory near Fort William.
With planning permission granted earlier this year, Mr Gupta’s GFG Alliance aims to start building the £120million factory in September, creating 400 jobs and potentially attracting further investment into the area.
Speaking as Kier posted a 5% rise in first half underlying profits to £60million, on revenue up by 1% at just over £2billion, Mr Reid said: “This is a huge development, with potential spin-off benefits in terms of the local economy, including roads, schools and housing.”
Kier’s Scottish construction arm tends to focus more on public sector work, building or upgrading schools and hospitals. Mr Reid said work at Aberdeen Music Hall in a near £9million redevelopment was progressing well, with completion slated for November – just in time for the festive season.
Kier, whose Scottish construction arm employs more than 200 people in offices in Aberdeen, Inverness, Glasgow and Newcastle, said it was on course for double-digit profit growth in the year to June 30, 2018.
Brian McQuade, managing director Kier Construction Scotland, added: “The north of Scotland, where we are delivering many important projects, continues to perform well.
“The transformation of the 200-year-old Aberdeen Music Hall is on track to be unveiled at the end of the year as big changes to the internal structure have been completed.
“We are currently carrying out a series of ward upgrades at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary as part of a £17million backlog maintenance programme of work, and work is under way on delivering a programme of social housing improvements for 12,500 tenants across Aberdeenshire.”