Prime minister Boris Johnson has urged construction workers to return to sites if their role can’t be performed from home, as the government set out its “first sketch of a roadmap” for reopening society after the coronavirus lockdown.
Amid fears about the effect the continuing lockdown is having on the economy, Johnson said last night in an address to the nation:
“We now need to stress that anyone who can’t work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work and we want it to be safe for you to get to work.”
But he advised workers to avoid public transport wherever possible. He added: “So you should avoid public transport if at all possible because we must and will maintain social distancing and capacity will therefore be limited.”
“So work from home if you can, but you should go to work if you can’t work from home. And to be safe at work, we have been working to establish new guidance for employers to make workplaces covid-secure. And when you do go to work, if possible go by car or even better by walking or bicycle.”
Many construction firms – including housebuilders such as Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Vistry – have already announced phased restarts of their sites. Meanwhile Build UK’s contractor members now claim to have 73% of their sites open in England and Wales, albeit at lower levels of productivity than normal as a result of social distancing measures to protect workers and ongoing availability issues when it comes to building materials.
Last week, construction buyers reported the fastest decline in activity since the IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Activity Index started 23 years ago.
The headline figure fell from 39.3 in March (where a score of 50 indicates no change) to just 8.2 in April. The previous record low was 27.8 in February 2009.
