Minister launches first Jones Bros' Highlands office

Jones Bros won praise from Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing as he officially opened the company's first Highlands & Islands office.

The ceremony took place at the Ruthin family firm's new Scottish base in Inverness.

It follows a raft of contract wins in the Highlands & Islands by Jones Bros Civil Engineering UK. The company has been recruiting to fill new posts including contracts manager, site engineer and construction manager to be based at the Inverness office, headed up by Dennis Kearney, Jones Bros regional manager for the Highlands & Islands.

Dennis said: "We are winning lots of work particularly in the renewables sector. Having a physical presence and a strong team, which we are growing, gives us a fantastic tendering base."

Mr Ewing, Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism and MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, welcomed Jones Bros move into Scotland further strengthening the region's unrivalled skills and expertise in the renewable energy.

He said: "I'm delighted to open Jones Bros' Highlands & Islands office, a sign of confidence which will bring jobs and investment to the area."

Jones Bros secured a multi-million pound contract to extend a waste management facility in Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides and is also working on the construction of a 51MW wind farm on the Lochluichart Estate, in Ross-shire.

Other contracts in Scotland include the development of a unique community-owned wind farm within a historic highland estate. The £3m contract sees Jones Bros building the infrastructure for a 12-turbine wind farm on the Ormsary and Stronachullin estates in Argyll, on the west coast of Scotland.

Jones Bros, founded in North Wales in the 1950s, has been increasingly working on contracts in Scotland and, in the past two years the firm has also opened an office in Linlithgow in West Lothian.

The company has grown steadily in the last decade, now employing 280 people with contracts throughout the UK in sectors including the construction of waste management facilities, highways, flood and marine defence and energy projects including renewables.