Vivalda, which includes Pura Facades and MSP (Scotland), has approximately 70 current projects to replace unsafe cladding with non-flammable products, which the housing secretary and metropolitan mayors have deemed too be urgent work that must continue through the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, bosses at Vivalda were not prepared to put employees back on site without any confidence that they could maintain social distancing, both on site and getting to and from work each day. It employs 160 people across 12 UK sites.
Managing director Ben Jayes said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e obviously as keen as anyone to get back to work, but only when we can guarantee our people鈥檚 safety. Having seen the leadership shown by contractors such as Taylor Wimpey and housebuilders Persimmon, both of whom have introduced stringent Covid-19 policies and site procedures, we鈥檙e delighted to be supplying non-flammable cladding once again.
鈥淔or ourselves, we鈥檝e sourced all the right PPE for staff at each site and undertaken compulsory training to ensure every branch operates to the Construction Leadership Council鈥檚 standard operating procedures. We鈥檝e also considered transport options to work and have introduced flexible working so that those who need to take public transport can avoid rush hours and crowded tubes, trains and buses.鈥�
Vivalda鈥檚 decision to commence operations was also partly driven by the apparent resilience of the UK鈥檚 construction sector, which is already showing signs of growth following weeks of inactivity. Ben Jayes said: 鈥淲e鈥檝e been frankly surprised by the very encouraging levels of new enquiries coming across our desks in the last four weeks. While in April 2019 we identified 79 qualified, in the same period this year, we鈥檝e had over 70 鈥� and that鈥檚 a few days before the end of the month.鈥�
He concluded that a significant number of projects that had previously been stuck in the procurement pipeline had been confirmed by architects and specifiers during the lockdown period. 鈥淕iven the fact that so few sites were open, we think a lot of developers have tasked their teams to focus on projects which would have otherwise taken months to gain approval,鈥� he said.
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