Utilities giant Thames Water has announced plans to axe more than 600 roles - with many of those jobs based in Reading town centre. 

The UK's biggest water supplier told staff today that it will be making major jobs cuts, which will predominantly affect support staff in areas such as human relations and management.

Thames Water's headquarters are at Clearwater Court, Vastern Road.

Up to 350 staff will be made redundant, and a further 300 roles which are existing will be axed. In total, five per cent of the workforce will go. 

A spokesman for Thames Water said: "Today we informed our employees of the potential loss of around 350 roles.

"We will seek to minimise redundancies wherever possible, through redeployment and voluntary redundancy for affected groups and by agreement.

"This is clearly very difficult news for employees directly affected and we will do as much as we can to support them, including providing practical help to find new roles.

"We remain totally focused on managing our cost base.

"The money we spend belongs to our customers and investors - and we are committed to delivering on our commitments to them and all of our stakeholders."