The firm confirmed during its preliminary results for the year to June 30 2012 that staff levels across the group fell 9% to 961 resulting in redundancy costs of £1.2m.
Chairman Roger Fidgen said: “Our employee numbers have reduced by 9% over the last twelve months to 961 with an associated one-off charge of £1.2m being identified as an exceptional item for the year.
“This largely reflects the strategic decision to reduce our exposure to our UK Civil and Transportation consultancy businesses in response to subdued activity and margin pressure.”
Revenue across the group dipped to £68.8m from £74.1m last time while pre-tax profit stayed flat at £600,000.
Waterman is winning more work in the property sector and believes the market will start improving by the end of next year.
Fidgen said: “Market conditions continue to act as a brake on our operating performance and we see no reason to anticipate any meaningful easing in the competitive environment in the current financial year.
“Looking further ahead, we believe that there are grounds for some optimism.
“Our current workload includes a significant element of early-cycle planning work on residential, retail and commercial development projects for blue chip clients.
“This early involvement creates a strong pipeline of prospects where there is a high probability of further project assignments for Waterman as these projects enter the development phase in future years.”