A construction firm is closing its Kent office as margins in the industry remain tight, putting up to 10 jobs at risk.

ISG has confirmed it will close its Tonbridge base as part of plans to restructure and reduce its UK construction business.

It is expected the closure and ceased operations will cost the company about £3.5m this year.

The company aims to find new roles within the business for the staff affected by the closure but has not confirmed how many will face redundancy.

An ISG spokesperson said: “We have been reorganising our UK construction business over the past couple of years to focus on being a smaller business targeting repeat clients and frameworks.

“By reducing our open market tendering activities, it has exposed our Tonbridge operation as being unable to align with this strategy, and we have taken the decision to discontinue activities from this satellite office.

“We anticipate that fewer than 10 members of staff will be directly affected by this decision. Our guiding principle is to achieve redeployment across the business wherever possible.”

In a statement the firm added: “Current margins continue to be commercially challenging on projects entered into more than a year ago.

“However, with the market now improving and with recent project wins generally being secured under better procurement routes, we anticipate seeing an upturn in margins from 2015.”

The firm says its present order book is 25% up on May last year at more than £1bn.

In the company’s latest half-year results, pre-tax profits were up 7% at £2.4m.