Minister urges more sites to restart as 73% of big jobs back

Major contractors are now working on 73% of sites as the government renewed its call for construction to restart across the country.

An update from trade body Build UK yesterday revealed the number of operational sites for its contractor members – up from 69% last week.

Build UK’s membership includes most of the industry’s biggest names like Balfour Beatty, Laing O’Rourke, Kier, McAlpine, Skanska, Bouygues, Bam, Vinci, Wates, Mace and Morgan Sindall.

Over 80% of member’s infrastructure and construction sites are now running with 55% of housing jobs working.

The latest numbers came as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Robert Jenrick restated the government’s position on construction as one of the sectors leading the economy out of lockdown.

He said: “We want infrastructure and construction work to begin again wherever it is safe to do so.

“We cannot, and will not, let this pandemic halt our work to improve connectivity, to provide vital social and cultural infrastructure and to boost economic growth across the regions.

“That’s is how we will begin to rebuild and recover from this national emergency.”

Build UK also reported that productivity is improving on reopened sites.

Productivity on infrastructure and construction sites is averaging 71%, up from 67% last week.

But sites in London remain a challenge although output has improved from 56% to 63% in the last week.

Written by Grant Prior - Construction Enquirer