A major road project will not necessarily be delayed as a result of the collapse of building giant Carillion, the Economy Secretary has said.

Keith Brown told MSPs at Holyrood that the £745m cost of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) project should also not be affected by the demise of the firm.

Carillion formed one third of the Aberdeen Roads Ltd (ARL) consortium leading the work alongside Balfour Beatty and Galliford Try.

Mr Brown said the two remaining partners had committed to delivering the remainder of the bypass project, which is nearing completion following a previous delay.

He told parliament: "We understand that Balfour Beatty and Galliford Try will now take the necessary steps to jointly deliver the remainder of this project.

"We will continue to work closely with ARL to assess and mitigate any impacts that may arise as a consequence of this announcement.

"There is nothing in the nature of the change which has happened that necessitates a delay but of course we'll keep our eye on the further developments as they take place."

Mr Brown said the Scottish Government did not expect any further AWPR costs as a result of the liquidation of the company, pointing out that the two remaining partners had made reference to "a hole in the project now between £40 and £80m".

He said: "That's for them to consider with the banks and lenders that are part of this consortium, that's not for the Scottish Government to fill that hole."

Mr Brown said there were around 70 direct employees of Carillion working on the contract as well as about 190 employed on other terms, including some agency staff.

He added: "I think it's likely that the two remaining contractors will require the work to be done as previously done by the employees of Carillion.

"We can't give a cast-iron guarantee on the workers but I think there's a good chance that many of those will be re-employed and for those that are not we've offered assistance."