MORE than 200 jobs will be created over the next year at the new Tyneside offices of construction giant Balfour Beatty.

The jobs will come following the success of the group’s customer support centre which, after just seven months, has saved the massive company £15m and expects to save another £15m over the next year.

The Newcastle centre has quickly grown to employ around 230 staff working to centralise support services for the 14 companies run by Balfour in the UK, and managers expect it will employ 450 by the end of next year.

Andy Smith, supply chain director for Balfour, explained how the centre had unified payroll, accounting and supply chain management so the company improved efficiency and saved money in coordinating the needs of its 20,000-strong UK workforce.

“Our 14 operating companies all had separate contracts for the work and my team has found there are benefits in size in bringing them all together,” he said. “Naturally if we are all working to one model across the company there are benefits in the size of the contracts.

“The efficiencies are also helping the company work in a more coordinated way. For instance, before when people were traveling abroad it was arranged independently by each company. Now it is all centralised so if there’s a problem in a country we can quickly see who is out there and get to them and if necessary get them out.

“We have done very well when we recognise the size of the change we are looking to undertake. The most important thing about saving on procurement is it should save on the bottom line and help to ensure that the company becomes more competitive.”