Around nine senior managers are transferring over and will be based in new offices in Inverness.

The senior management team is jumping ship after owner Galliford Try revealed it was closing down the major infrastructure contracting business after suffering big loses on the Queensferry Crossing and Aberdeen Bypass projects.

Pat Munro (Alness) was established back in 1945 and specialises in quarry products, ready-mixed concrete and blacktop, employing around 190 staff.

The Highlands business also runs a small civil engineering contracting business targeting works up to £1.5m, employing some 40 workers.

The new Morrison team will head a new major projects division, tasked with bidding for contract work up to around the £20m mark.

Pat Munro’s managing director, Brian Munro, said: “We are excited to have increased our capabilities and service offering to the civil engineering sector within the Highlands.

“We were saddened to learn of Galliford Try’s decision to shut down Morrison Infrastructure – particularly in our area – and were aware of the capabilities of their Inverness Unit.

“We are delighted to have been able to secure the services of the majority of their management team, have been encouraged by their enthusiasm to our approach, and are pleased to bring their roles back under the management of a local, Highland business.”

He said that depending on bidding success further Morrison Infrastructure staff could be taken on as contracts mobilise.

The move into larger scale contracting continues the organic growth that Pat Munro has experienced in recent years, together with another strategic acquisition of staff and assets from off-site building specialist Carbon Dynamic at the end of 2018, following its collapse into administration.