Jobs go at Bison

MORE than 60 workers have been made redundant in Leeds after concrete manufacturer Bison went into administration.

Administrators were called into the struggling business last week after Bison got into difficulties following the slowdown in the construction sector.

However the majority of the business was saved after privately-owned construction company Laing O’Rourke, which has an office in Leeds, acquired the majority operations of Bison under a newly formed company – Bison Manufacturing .

However Bison’s operation in Stourton, Leeds, was not part of the deal and the receivers said they were in the process of investigating the options for “realising the business and its assets”.

The remaining staff at the Leeds site now face an uncertain future.

A spokeswoman for the administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers confirmed the future of the Leeds factory depended on a potential buyer coming forward.

The factories which have been saved are in Swadlincote, Derbyshire and Uddingston in Scotland.

Bison – headquartered in Burton, Derbyshire – is a market leader in the design and manufacture of pre-cast pre-stressed concrete products.

It has an annual turnover of £90m and employs 550 people.