Coronavirus update for construction: 3 July

The government has set out the local action being taken in Leicester following a surge in coronavirus cases, and there have been a number of queries regarding the implementation of the Site Operating Procedures in areas that may be subject to localised lockdowns. The Site Operating Procedures clearly state that Government guidance must be followed and it is expected that sites will assess the local conditions and respond accordingly, including maintaining the social distancing practices in place prior to the easing of the national lockdown, such as not opening canteens and rigorously enforcing hygiene and cleaning regimes.

Transport for London (TfL) has published a toolkit for the construction sector setting out the latest travel advice for the workforce on sites across London. Employers are being asked to help by:

• Encouraging workers to walk or cycle all or part of their journey and providing lockers, showers and storage
• Changing operating hours or staggering shifts to avoid the busiest times on the network (05:45 – 08:15 and 16:00 – 17:30) and ensuring any shifts starting and finishing around these times are allocated to workers who can walk or cycle
• Sharing with workers the specific travel advice for areas of concentrated construction, including Vauxhall/Nine Elms, Westminster, City of London, Canary Wharf and Stratford
• Reducing and retiming goods and services to and from site to avoid peak times.

TrustMark has launched the Work Safe. Safe Work campaign to reassure homeowners and occupiers that tradespeople can work safely in their homes. The campaign, which is supported by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) as part of the ‘restart’ phase in the Roadmap to Recovery, has a helpful guide for homeowners on what to do before, during and after work is carried out.

Mandatory MOT testing for car, motorcycle and van owners in England, Scotland and Wales will be reintroduced from 1 August 2020. Vehicles with an MOT due date before 1 August will still have a six-month exemption if required.

Lorries have been given a further three-month exemption from getting an MOT and the deadline for completing the test is dependent on when the MOT was originally due.

You can check the MOT history of any vehicle online which will confirm when you need to have done the test by.

Driving lessons and theory tests will be restarting in England from 4 July, with driving tests resuming from 22 July.

CITB has announced that the deadline for CITB grant claim applications for the Grant Scheme Year 2019/20 has been extended. Companies will now have until 30 November 2020 to submit claims for training which occurred between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020.

Build UK Chief Executive Suzannah Nichol appeared on LBC Radio earlier this week to welcome the reforms to the planning system, announced as part of the government’s commitment to ‘Build Build Build’ to support the economic recovery, and you can listen back online.

Businesses should continue to follow the most up-to-date government guidance and for the latest updates please follow Build UK on Twitter and LinkedIn. If you have any construction-specific queries or feedback on what is happening within the industry, please contact Build UK.