Staffing levels at construction firm Kier fell by more than 3,500 in the last year as restructuring across the group stepped up.

The second biggest contractor in the UK by turnover, Kier has a regional base in Quedgeley and is involved in projects across the region including the building of a new GP surgery as part of Glouceester's Quayside regeneration.

The firm's latest report revealed staffing levels in the UK fell by 3,508 to 13,584 - down from 18,064 in 2017-18.

More than 100 employees have also left Kier's overseas arm.

The report follows weeks after the company revealed pre-tax losses of £225.3million for the year to the end of June with new chief executive Andrew Davies saying staff cuts would save around £100million a year from next June.

The job losses over the past two years include 1,700 redundancies - 500 more than were originally planned by June.

Redundancy costs totalled £29.5million last year after hitting £38.4million in 2018-19 - the wage bill for the past 12 months falling from £766.8million to £618.8million.

Last month Mr Davies said: "This financial year has been a difficult one. The effects of COVID-19 adversely impacted the group's performance in the final three months of the financial year as the business adapted to working under revised site operating procedures.

"As explained in 2019, Kier needs substantial restructuring, but has great potential.

"The strategic actions being implemented by the new senior management team are designed to ensure Kier is well place to benefit for the proposed substantial increase in UK infrastructure investment."

He said the company has a strong order book in line with expectations at £7.9billion.