A STEEL firm has announced plans to axe 70 jobs at its site in Lostock.

Severfield — formerly Watson Steel — told staff at its manufacturing facility near the Middlebrook Retail Park that it wants to move some of its work to a centre in North Yorkshire.

The company — which is behind London's Olympic Stadium, the O2 Arena, and the Macron Stadium — blamed the decision on a 'shift in demand' and said it would redeploy as many Lostock staff as possible.

Approximately 250 people are employed at the Lostock Lane site.

A spokesman for the steel firm said: "Severfield has announced a proposal to reorganise its Severfield UK operations which will result in the transition of a number of job roles from its Lostock facility to its Dalton, North Yorkshire facility.

"The proposed reorganisation follows recent changes in the nature, mix and timing of work being experienced by the group, in both its current strong order book and the future pipeline of opportunities.

"This anticipated shift in demand is expected to substantially change the requirement for steel fabrication at the Lostock and Dalton facilities.

"Accordingly, the executive management team has been focusing on rebalancing the Severfield UK operations to better align the group with current market opportunities.

"The group will continue to invest in new technologies at both Lostock and Dalton, alongside redeploying as many employees as possible from within the planned reduction in headcount of approximately 70 people at Lostock.

"We believe that the reshaping of the group’s operations in the current financial year will further enhance our market leading position, whilst enabling us to continue to provide customers and stakeholders with high-quality cost-effective product and service."

The company was recently awarded the contract to build Google's new London headquarters

Just last week, Bolton West MP Chris Green praised Severfield in the House of Commons, urging the government to 'buy beautiful, buy British, and buy from Bolton’.

The Tory MP said he was disappointed at the job losses in his constituency, adding: "I am really disappointed to hear about the proposed job losses at Severfield.

"I know that Severfield will be doing everything it can to avoid them.

"But what we do need for Severfield to be a successful company is to carry on investing in infrastructure projects and other buildings that use the high-quality steel that Severfield produces.

"The foundations of any successful company is a strong economy and that is what the Conservative Party is working on maintaining and improving."

Severfield’s other major works include The Shard building in London, the sliding roof at Wimbledon's Centre Court, and Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.

Its 55-acre site in Dalton is the company's largest and forms a hub for much of the Severfield’s activity.

A representative for the GMB union was not available to comment yesterday.