Cleveland Bridge's collapse into administration has seen a wave of redundancies at the North East firm.
A couple of weeks after the revelation that administrators were being called into the bridge specialist, more than 50 staff had their jobs axed.
The official statement from the administrators at business consultancy FRP said: 'The Joint Administrators continue to hold discussions with interested parties having marketed the business for sale. However, for operational and financial reasons, 53 roles have been made redundant. The vast majority of roles affected are office-based.
'A small group of around 25 core staff remain at work to assist the Joint Administrators with their duties and in anticipation of restarting production as soon as possible.
'The remaining 128 roles remain furloughed as part of the Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme pending the intended restart of production. A small handful of staff have since left their positions voluntarily.
The troubles at the firm have already impacted at least one national project.
Highways England revealed that the planned closures around the A2 Bean and Ebbsfleet junctions between 6-9 August to carry out improvement works as part of a £112m scheme have been cancelled.
Cleveland Bridge was responsible for building the bridge beams for the work.
In a joint statement, Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen, Sedgefield MP Paul Howell and Darlington MP Peter Gibson said: 'The news that 53 members of staff at Cleveland Bridge have been made redundant today is devastating news, and support for those workers affected at this difficult time is being provided through Darlington Borough Council.
'Since the company fell into administration last month our number one priority has been to save as many jobs as possible while a buyer for the company is found, and this remains the case.
'With production due to restart soon so that existing orders can be fulfilled, we remain optimistic that a buyer can be found for this world-leading company with a global reputation built on the expertise and skills of its workforce.
'We know the administrators are working to keep the key production staff in place with a view to complete orders in progress whilst negotiations with potential buyers continue.
'Any deal to save Cleveland Bridge must protect as many local jobs as possible, and we will continue to work with the trade unions, the administrators, government and potential buyers to safeguard local jobs.'
