A TOTAL of 17 jobs are being lost in Galashiels and Livingston with the restructuring of a major construction company.

Esh Construction, which recently completed the new health centre in Galashiels as well as social housing projects in Hawick, announced the redundancies this week.

Esh had offices in Carlisle, Kendal and Earlston, before expanding with the creation of new offices in Livingston and Galashiels.

The company which employs around 450 workers carried out a “comprehensive strategic review” of its operations in Scotland earlier this year.

And it resulted in 17 posts being made redundant.

Esh Construction’s regional director for Scotland, Gerard McMahon, said: “Esh Construction’s Board has recently initiated a comprehensive strategic review of its operations in Scotland. An early outcome from this review is a restructuring of some of the activities carried out by our Livingston and Galashiels offices.

"Regrettably this has led to some redundancies as we seek to streamline our processes and drive efficiencies.

“We remain fully committed to our projects and are currently looking to leverage the considerable range of resources available at our central HQ to ensure we deliver projects in line with our client’s expectations.

“We are offering support to those colleagues affected by these changes, we thank them for their contribution to the Esh Group and wish them the very best for the future.”