A message from our Managing Director, Sarah Barraclough.
“In light of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and the confusion around Government guidance for the construction industry, I wanted to clarify Skipton Properties’ position regarding our construction sites.
In line with comments made yesterday (24th March) by Senior Cabinet Minister, Michael Gove, in which he stated that work on private construction sites should continue, we have been carrying on with work at our sites this week.
We want to reassure you that during these tough times we have been observing Government guidelines regarding hygiene and working at a safe distance on site: instructing workers to wash their hands regularly and maintain a 2m distance from others, providing hand sanitiser, staggering breaks and recommending they be taken outside, and prohibiting car and van sharing unless sharers are family members. Much of the work at our sites is carried out in the open air, but where it is being carried out inside a plot we have restricted the number of workers.
Like many of you, we have found the guidance from the Government regarding the construction industry to be somewhat unclear, but when applied to our sites it is easier to rationalise, given that most of our workers are able to work at a safe distance from one another, often outside. We are also concerned both for the members of our workforce who are self-employed and still have no guarantee of continued income from the Government, and for our homeowners who need to move into their new homes this week or risk their sales falling through.
However we have taken the decision to temporarily halt construction at our sites from Friday to protect both our workforce and the wider community.
We will continue to follow Government advice and hope to be back and building again soon, once it is deemed safe to do so.
Stay safe, look after one another and thank you for your continued support.”