Persimmon to restart construction sites

Housebuilder Persimmon is to begin a phased restart of work on its sites from 27 April, a month after shutting down. David Jenkinson, chief executive of Persimmon, said: “The UK government has been very clear on the importance of the construction sector to the UK economy and its desire to see activity continue through the current period of crisis, provided appropriate public health measures are adopted. “Having spent the last month developing and testing new site protocols that incorporate the necessary social distancing and protective measures, we believe that we are now able to return to site safely and support the UK’s economic recovery from the pandemic. These new measures are fully compliant with government public health guidance and will be strictly enforced by a specialist team, with any individual failing to uphold standards being subject to disciplinary action and removal from site.” The firm said that around 30% of its employees who had been unable to work during the shutdown were still fully paid by the business. It confirmed that it had not made use of the government’s furlough scheme and had no current plans to access any of the government’s Covid-19 funding schemes. Persimmon also reported that it had secured around 820 online reservations in the five weeks ended 19 April. “Persimmon’s strong financial liquidity has enabled us to maintain our operational capability through this period by supporting all our colleagues on full pay, which will allow us to reopen sites swiftly and emerge from the shutdown well-prepared and ready to deliver the new homes the country needs, aided by our strong work-in-progress position,” Jenkenson said. To send feedback, e-mail louise.dransfield@egi.co.uk or tweet @DransfieldL or @estatesgazette