UK lockdown sends mixed messages to demolition and construction sectors.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson took to the airwaves last night to effectively place the nation in lockdown. Although that term wasn’t used specifically, the granting of police powers to disperse crowds and to fine those found to be contravening the new rules left no doubt that a lockdown was the situation in which the UK now finds itself.
Such clarity was lacking, however, for the hundreds of thousands employed in the UK construction and demolition industries. For while the nation was being urged to remain indoors and to venture out only when necessary, sites up and down the land look set to remain open, even while social media displayed photos of packed site canteens.
In its broadest sense, the UK construction industry is generally said to employ around one million people. And while those in white collar occupations might be able to work from home and abide by the new rules, the same cannot be said of the blue collar element that makes up the lion’s share of the sector.
F
or now, the advice s to abide by the Site Operating Procedures issued by Build UK. A copy of that document is available here.
