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Major house builder becomes latest to reopen sites
Bellway has become the latest house builder to announce it is reopening some construction sites following a five-week shutdown.
In a statement the firm said it will resume some construction work, initially on a phased basis, from 4 May.
Since closing all of its sites on 25 March, Bellway said it has “developed measures to ensure social distancing” and “produced strict guidelines for workers on our site”.
A number of other major house builders, including Taylor Wimpey, Vistry Group and Persimmon, have also recently announced plans to return to work on selected sites.
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It follows the latest piece of guidance from the Construction Leadership Council, which states construction work can continue throughout the pandemic as long as builders follow social distancing guidelines.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has urged house builders to reopen sites.
In response to its initial decision to close sites, Bellway said it initiated measures to furlough roughly 75% of its staff, including site tradesmen, site managers and sales advisors.
The house builder has delayed submitting a claim to the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme until the group is in a better decision to assess the financial effect of its planned site reopening programme.
In addition to furloughing staff, Bellway has taken a number of other actions to mitigate the impact of coronavirus, such as postponing dividend payments and deferring land expenditure.
The organisation’s board of directors volunteered a temporary 20% reduction in salary, with the savings being donated to various charities in recognition of the disruption that coronavirus has had on communities.
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