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Major house builders close down sites in response to coronavirus outbreak
Several of the country’s biggest house builders have announced that they are closing construction sites as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, despite the government advising that construction sites stay open.
Barratt Homes, Galliard Homes, Taylor Wimpey, Bovis, Cala and Hill have all announced plans to close construction sites as a way of stopping the spread of the disease.
A spokesperson for Barratt Homes, Britain’s biggest house builder by volume, said: “The health and safety of customers and employees is our number-one priority and yesterday we took the decision to temporarily close our 400 offices and sites across the country. We are in the process of doing this safely and securely as quickly as possible.”
A tweet from the group said it is aiming to have sites closed by the end of today.
We are aiming to have all our sites closed by the end of the day. We do need to ensure they are secure and all health and safety measures have been taken so this may take until tomorrow morning. Kind Regards, Beth.
— Barratt Homes (@BarrattHomes)We are aiming to have all our sites closed by the end of the day. We do need to ensure they are secure and all health and safety measures have been taken so this may take until tomorrow morning. Kind Regards, Beth.
— Barratt Homes (@BarrattHomes) March 24, 2020
Taylor Wimpey has also moved to close all its construction sites to prevent further spread. In a statement to the stock market, it said: “We have taken the decision to close all of our show homes, sales centres, and construction sites for all work except that needed to make the sites safe and secure.”
Bovis has begun decommissioning all of its sites, while Cala Homes has also announced it will stop construction activity.
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Galliard Homes, which has also closed its sites, criticised “conflicting messages” from central government and the London mayor’s office about whether sites should stay open as it announced it was closing sites.
Stephen Conway, chair of Galliard Homes, said: “Our business was born in London and we are committed to the capital, but during these unprecedented times the safety of our construction staff, families and our London communities is paramount, and we believe that by taking our staff out of daily commuting we will help to free up London’s transport network for the NHS and key workers who are protecting sick and vulnerable people across the capital.”
Galliard’s comments come after housing secretary Robert Jenrick tweeted last night that construction workers can continue to work as long as they comply with Public Health England’s social distancing guidance.
This was then supported by Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove, who told the BBC’s Breakfast programme this morning that construction should continue. He added: “It is important that when we have construction work that can be done safely in the open air.”
However, the government’s advice was heavily criticised by mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who called for all non-essential construction sites to be closed to prevent further spread of coronavirus.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain today, he said that unless the work is essential, it should be stopped as it is “so, so hard to be two metres apart” when doing so.
“My view is no [construction workers should not go to work] and I made that point quite forcefully at yesterday’s COBRA meeting,” he told the programme.
He added: “There’s other health and safety guidance that those on construction sites have got to think about and I think we are sending mixed messages.”
House builder Hill, which delivers a number of schemes with housing associations and councils, said that it would be closing down sites at the end of the day on Friday.
An announcement on Hill’s website said: “In light of the prime minister’s statement on the evening of the 23 March, we now believe the time is right to begin an orderly close down of our core operations until this crisis is beyond us.
“Construction operations on site will cease by close of business on Friday 27 March. We have been planning for this over recent weeks, and so have a clear plan for doing so.”
The majority of house builders have seen their share prices hit badly since the outbreak of coronavirus. In the past month Barratt has seen its share price more than halve, from 837p to 407p at the start of trading today.
Taylor Wimpey has seen its share price drop from 224p one month ago to 117p at the start of trading today. The news of the closure of its sites saw its share price drop by nearly 4% from 117p to 109p at the time of writing.
