Astron is closing its digital printing centre in south London and moving work to its facilities management (FM) sites in the City and its Huntingdon headquarters.


The site was part of Tactica Solutions before its merger with Astron last year (PrintWeek, 15 December).


It will shut within six months and chief executive David Mitchell said the 20-odd staff would be offered redeployment to the FM sites.


Astron has 10 FM sites in London, including Cable & Wireless and Save & Prosper. Mitchell said the sites equipment, much of which was falling out of lease, would be relocated to other plants where appropriate and that the group was in discussions with equipment suppliers including Xerox.


From 5 February the group became known solely as Astron. And Mitchell reported good news in the form of a two-year extension to its NHS contract, which had been handled by Tactica.


One of the saddest aspects of the merger was having to let people go and to assure them it was not personal, he added. He expected total job losses to be around 50.


Story by Gordon Carson