The private building firm, which has a long list of retail customers including Asda, B&Q and Boots, axed 40 jobs from its 300-strong workforce at the end of last year.

Simons would not comment about the number of jobs at risk in the latest consultation, but rumours are circulating within the firm that there could be 25-50 redundancies.

A company statement said: “This is the second, planned stage of a standard consultation process which will affect members of our support teams.

“The process will determine the extent of reductions to our workforce in order to make sure that our financial position remains strong in light of some project delays and challenging market conditions.

“We can confirm that there were some redundancies in December and we anticipate there will be some further job losses as a result of this consultation.”

Simons is currently bidding for several projects including a Tesco store in West Bromwich and Tesco distribution centre in Rainham.