Engineering consultancy, WS Atkins, has said it will continue its global expansion, as it starts to look away from the UK towards the US and Middle Eastern markets.

The company said in an interim statement the current UK marketplace offered ‘some resilience in a market that remains challenging', but cutbacks from government meant it was having to continue to lay off staff in the highways business, despite a strong forward workload of contracts. A company spokesperson told The MJ: ‘We expect 300 jobs will be lost before the end of the financial year. The positions are currently under consultation.'