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The UK was in the middle of a well-documented housing crisis before the Coronavirus outbreak, with the National Housing Federation estimating that a staggering 1.4 million people across the UK were living in poor-quality homes, with 400,000 homeless or at severe risk of homelessness. Robert Jenrick MP, Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government, has stressed that he wants to “get Britain building again!” – but is this really possible, and how?
As of March 2020, Connexus had 11 new build schemes on-site, with over 170 new homes under construction across Herefordshire and Shropshire. The Prime Minister’s first lockdown announcement on 20th March signalled the start of all of these sites having to close down, with all completely closed with a couple of weeks. It was at this point that some in the sector feared the worst.
Happily, all sites have now re-opened and our contractor partners are working hard to deliver the new homes as quickly as they can. But what about the longer-term impacts on our new housing developments?
Changes to the way our Development team and contractor partners work are most apparent on-site, where contractors have brought in new regulations designed to keep staff safe while having a minimal impact on completion dates. These new regulations have been developed around the principles of the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government’s Charter for Safe Working Practice, with everyone on-site required to observe 2 metre social distancing whenever possible.
The new site regulations put in place by contractor partner E G Carter in Withington, Herefordshire, are typical of those across our development sites and show that simple, practical steps are often the key to maintaining social distancing. Shared areas, such as toilets and canteen areas, are given a daily deep-clean by the Site Manager. All workers are required to wash their hands for 20 seconds when entering and leaving the site, with external hand washing facilities provided near key work points. Tasks that have to be carried out by more than one site worker are being rearranged for social distancing or minimised as much as possible.
The last 2 weeks have seen our Construction Supervisors and Development Managers allowed back onto sites while following these new regulations and wearing new PPE. In addition to the standard-issue high-vis, hard hats and steel toe capped boots, Connexus has provided all of our staff visiting sites with protective gloves, face masks and hand sanitising gel. Where possible, site visits are avoided altogether with staff taking part in meetings via video calls.
Issues in the construction materials supply chain have also had some effect on work resuming on-site, with material and product manufacturers grappling with the effects of COVID-19 as much as the contractors. Factory closures have meant that plasterboard and concrete are in particularly short supply.
Despite all these challenges, the mood coming from our sites is optimistic, with staff resolved to delivering these vital new homes as soon as possible. Restarting sites after a shutdown, with a raft of new regulations and problems with supply chains, had led some in the industry to fear the worst. While the consequences of COVID-19 on our delivery of important new homes is not yet fully known, contractors have so far asked for reasonable extensions of around only 7 weeks.
