Construction work restarted on one in five sites

Construction work has now restarted on nearly one in five of all residential construction projects in the construction phase, following government pressure on housebuilders to re-open sites.

Exclusive data provided to Housing Today by construction data firm Barbour ABI shows that work has recommenced on nearly 600 sites previously closed by the coronavirus lockdown.

The figures show that 237 schemes restarted in the week to last Thursday, which added to the 344 previously restarted making a total of 581 schemes to have now recommenced construction.

According to the figures from Barbour ABI’s database of construction schemes, the projects to have restarted account for almost a fifth – 19% - of all “live” residential schemes.

However, with larger projects more likely to have restarted, the projects to have re-commenced account for more than a third – 35% - of projects by value, with the construction value of the restarted schemes topping £12bn.

The schemes to have restarted are due to produce 94,700 homes, also around a third of the 289,000 homes in construction.

Barbour ABI said it expected further significant increases in projects opening or restarting and drops in delayed projects over the next few weeks, as more companies return to site.

The news follows the announcements by a series of housebuilders and housing associations in the last three weeks of plans to commence a phased re-opening of construction sites.

The decisions to re-open come after nearly three-quarters of housebuilding sites shut their doors in March in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown brought in by the government. Last week the Construction Products Association released an analysis suggesting that production by the residential development industry overall was down even more – by 85% - since the lockdown.

Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has urged housebuilders to re-open sites, but the CPA said lockdown rules enforcing social distancing on construction sites would likely constrain productivity of re-opened sites by anything between 30-50%.

The figures are likely to increase in the coming days with a number of builders, such as Barratt and Durkan not due to open sites until this week.

Barbour ABI chief economist Tom Hall said the restarts were welcome but that productivity and shortages of materials remained an issue. He said: “On-site productivity remains a big issue. Estimates of the reduction in on-site productivity range from 30% to 75%, with 50% the central value. These extreme values may be a product of sites recently reopening and over time they will adapt to the new working conditions.”