Homes for Scotland New Year message

The message below was sent out to Homes for Scotland members this morning. I wouldn't normally share beyond our membership, but I believe it to be too important an issue not to. If you or your company would like to receive regular, focused briefings regarding the home building industry, please contact me to discuss membership.

The below is my New Year message (not quite the uplifting, energising one I'd drafted over the holidays!)

I hope you enjoyed a lovely festive break and were able to benefit from some much needed downtime following the turmoil of last year. With our batteries recharged, I was hoping to look forward to a brighter 2021 in the context of the mass vaccination programme which is currently being rolled out. However, there are some immediate concerns that I must share with you.

As was highlighted in our first news alert of the year, it is incumbent on us all to ensure full compliance with the industry guidance that was developed by Construction Scotland last year. This is currently being updated to reflect the serious situation within which we presently find ourselves and will be shared as soon as it is available. Our Chair spoke with Cabinet Secretary Fiona Hyslop earlier this week who made clear that it was such discipline that enabled our sector to return to work last summer - and to remain open in the face of the latest tightening of restrictions.

However, with 383 deaths in Scotland over the festive period and a new variant that is 70% more transmissible, this position is being kept under constant review by the Scottish Government. This was emphasised by the First Minister yesterday as she warned that more stringent controls may be needed:

“At this stage people need to prioritise limiting the spread of the virus, and if we think as a government that we need to go further in terms of the regulations and the legal restrictions, we will do that, because we have to cut interactions sufficiently to stop this virus spreading."

“If it takes more tough decisions . . . then that is what I will do. Because we see from the case numbers, death numbers, pressure on our health service that we cannot allow this virus to run away from us, the consequences of that are too great.”

While we have no further information to share at this time rest assured that we will continue to keep you updated, so please keep checking your inboxes for news alerts.

During a call on Christmas Eve, Housing Minister Kevin Stewart raised vehicle sharing as a matter of particular concern in relation to our industry and I would encourage you to put in place strict procedures to mitigate this happening wherever possible. Other simple, yet effective measures that I encourage you to consider are improved ventilation in all buildings, wearing of masks (over noses and mouths), regular hand hygiene and the enforcement of 2 metre social distancing within welfare and canteen facilities. All staff who can work from home should now do so, and only essential post-completion works should be carried out at this time.  

The overall message from government is clear – if we want to keep this sector working, we must ensure all possible safety measures are in place and being rigorously implemented.

As is in the spirit of HFS, I am pleased to advise our SME home builder members that larger organisations have offered to share their operating procedures as part of our all-sector approach. Should you wish to take up this offer, then please let me know directly.