Spec Finish

NEWS FOCUS 6 www.thefis.org S ince the early stages of the pandemic, views have differed about the degree of shutdown of construction in the UK. Many businesses were prompted to virtually close their operations, fearful of the consequences if they could not create safe working environments. Others who felt confident that they could continue to operate without putting staff and clients at risk, were also deterred from doing so owing to supply chain concerns and projects being stalled by clients. However, many managed to keep their operations going, with a mix of remote working, skeleton staff on site and a host of protective measures put in place. All have faced challenges on a daily basis, with some diversifying their core service offering in order to keep their businesses afloat. Keeping supply going SIG Distribution (SIGD) closed many of its branches when the UK went into full-scale lockdown on 23March, but kept open selected branches for essential supplies, and reopened remaining branches two weeks later with skeleton staff. The company told SpecFinish it prioritised and aligned site openings with geographic customer demand and said this staggering of branch openings provided an opportunity to put all necessary measures in place. Some of the additional business came from supplying materials to the regional Nightingale hospitals and coronavirus facilities in Scotland. It also began offering a pre-order click and collect service. “The priority at this time for SIGD was to protect staff, customers and their supply chain and they immediately started to develop procedures that were practical, tailored for their business and met UK Government advice,” the company revealed in a statement to SpecFinish . Following a robust audit, which continues to run, some SIGD branches have, over the past three months, undergone significant reorganisation to ensure employees are correctly distanced throughout all aspects of their daily activities. Trade counters carry the now familiar direction of traffic, social distancing markers and counter screens and each site has to achieve a minimum audit score to increase head count from the initial skeleton crew. During lockdown, with many sales staff continuing to work remotely, SIGD offered training programmes to staff for upskilling, which it said had favourable uptakes, with 223 hours of training and 887 individuals attending sessions during April and May alone. SIGD is now fully open, with a phased opening of its trade counters getting back to full staff attendance. BUSINESS AS USUAL Construction came to a virtual standstill following the Government’s March directive. We spoke to some of those who managed to keep businesses and the supply chain operating. “Few would disagree that operations and processes would need to be adapted but some manufacturers stayed open whilst others chose to almost entirely freeze.” Andrew Smith, OWA