The Barnsley steelwork firm is moving from double to single shift working at its factories at Wombwell and Yate in Bristol.

Steve Fareham, managing director of Billington, told the Enquirer: “The general problems of the steelwork sector are well known. Supply and demand are still out of kilter in the industry.

“We’re basically reverting to the shift pattern of four years ago. We still retain the capacity to meet our clients’ needs but we must adjust working patterns to suit orders levels.”

He added: “We are seeing more opportunities ahead but they are taking longer to come to fruition, so we haven’t been able to fully occupy our factories.”

The new shift patterns came into force yesterday at the two main works. Last October around 11 mainly office staff were laid off at its Bristol site.

At the end of last year Billington formed a joint venture with southern steelwork specialist Bourne Steel to chase £10m-plus office and shopping centre jobs in London and other big cities.

The partners behind the new company BS2 have just completed a small tester job and are hopeful of landing further work despite signs of a slowdown in new commercial work.