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The contractor is to wind up the Birmingham, Manchester and Cardiff offices of its Expanded business, which is part of its 拢1.3bn turnover specialist services division.

Expanded has worked on high-profile schemes such as the 拢250m Greenwich Millennium Village. The business will now operate out of two offices in London and Scotland.

Laing O鈥橰ourke this week said the move was intended to create stronger hubs for the business and was not expected to result in job losses.

However, it will add to turbulence in the Midlands where Laing O鈥橰ourke recently reported a pre-tax loss of 拢19m in 2006 on turnover of 拢200m.

The company did confirm that a small number of staff were leaving its contracting business in the region. The cuts come as some of its major projects in the area have come to an end, and the company denied that they reflected a lack of interest in the area.

Laing O鈥橰ourke said: 鈥淲hen projects are concluded, if we can鈥檛 deploy operatives in a region there may be redundancies.

When projects are concluded there may be redundancies

Laing o鈥橰ourke spokesperson

Some of this has happened as projects have come to an end in this area.鈥�

It is understood that most of those made redundant will be among skilled site operatives.

Laing O鈥橰ourke recently created Expanded as a vehicle for its piling, demolition and concrete frame operations.

The specialists division also includes M&E subsidiary Crown House Technologies and Select Plant Hire.

Expanded works on all of Laing O鈥橰ourke鈥檚 large projects and also work for external clients.