The industry-wide campaign gathered items of personal protective equipment (PPE) urgently needed for NHS staff during the Covid-19 pandemic. The drive was co-ordinated by Arcadis.
Initially tasked by NHS London with finding 250,000 PPE items over four days, Arcadis collaborated with more than 40 organisations across industry including Network Rail, CBRE, Kelly鈥檚, Laing O鈥橰ourke and Mace who all donated substantial volumes of equipment.
Together, the organisations quadrupled NHS London鈥檚 request, locating more than a million items ready for collection or drop-off 鈥� including 150,000 gowns/coveralls, 650,000 masks and 420,000 gloves. Much of it went to north London hospitals.
Arcadis managing director Edel Christie said: 鈥淭here has been an exceptional response from across the industry which we are proud to be part of. We鈥檙e now in the process of identifying potential new industrial supply chains capable of supplying thousands more items of PPE for our NHS heroes.鈥�
Laing O鈥橰ourke commercial director John O鈥機onnor said: 鈥淲e owe an incredible amount to all those working in the NHS to keep us safe. Our project teams across the UK feel humbled that they have been able to support the national effort by sourcing more than 20,000 items of personal protective equipment from the stores on our sites for use by health workers across the country.鈥�
Mace chief executive Mark Reynolds said: 鈥淭his critical supply of equipment and protective clothing will help to ensure that frontline health workers are able to work safely. It鈥檚 a vital contribution from our sector, and a clear demonstration of what we can do when we all work together. Construction has a key role to play in our response to this crisis, from sharing equipment to delivering much-needed emergency new healthcare facilities across the UK. I鈥檓 very proud that we and our supply chain were able to contribute to this fantastic effort.鈥�
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
