Where do we even start?

About 9 months ago I announced I was entering my 5th decade in the industry, an industry I have devoted my life to and one I truly love. 

I have experienced so much good over the years but also had a fair bit of bad. From serious calls to nationalise in the 70’s, to major recessions, to having to move South to earn a living, to facing up, in most decades, to the fact we were pretty shit at a lot of things and needed to constantly drag our industry out of the dark ages. Then add in a 9/11 and various other calamitous one-offs that have kicked us in the crotch. It is no wonder we carry the mantle of being the industry which is the first to suffer and the last to recover. 

But none of that scales or registers with the events of the last week or so. We are truly in uncharted territory and in unprecedented times. I knew people who were in our industry in the last World War. Construction rose to the challenge then and had a real purpose. We needed to build factories, airfields, bomb shelters, infrastructure. We were then called upon to rebuild a badly damaged country, once hostilities ceased. 

But what are we about today, what is our purpose, now Covid-19 is amongst us? Are any projects we are currently delivering of importance, in the grand scale of things? Hard to tell.

I have spent most of the last couple of weeks trying to keep sites operational and adapting to new realities. We have stopped all non-essential visits to our sites, we check everyone’s temperature on arrival. We are sourcing alternatives to damaged supply chains from the Far East and now mainland Europe. I have never had any conversations, sent any emails and texts or had so much concern EVER about availability of P3 dust masks, disinfectant, hand sanitiser and the like. Before Covid-19, these things just were, no ifs no buts but now if the virus, or the government doesn’t close you down, the lack of something essential probably will. Something you have always taken for granted and would never have on your risk register. Last week on one of our jobs, I kid you not, we employed a security guard in the toilets, to prevent people stealing toilet rolls. If we had run out the site would have to have closed. The first site I was on had a long drop and if you went in there without a daily newspaper, it was at your peril. I confess now a few pages of my engineers notebook were sacrificed back in the day. Today things are very different. No bog paper, no project.

I have biked around London this weekend, keeping safe distance, as I am one of those at risk. I have seen a City in a post-apocalypse world. Hard to describe it really. In the usual busy hubs the only people standing still and not moving are the buskers and homeless. Most of society seems to be adhering to the social distancing advice and not massing in groups. The retail areas of the West End are like ghost towns and there is no real evident life, let alone economic life.

The UK Government has effectively closed down hospitality, non-food retail and leisure facilities. Most of the commercial offices are shut with the office-dwellers now home-working. It did seem odd to be passing barbers shops and hairdressers that are continuing as normal, when all else seems on stop. I have decided my hair And beard will grow long thank you very much. A close shave has all together different meanings now.

But construction isn’t on stop and we are coming up with different rules and protocols to make our sites conform to the new world. Is there an inevitability over coming days we will be instructed to close sites? We don't know and shouldn’t 2nd guess. Our role as leaders in the industry, is to provide confidence to our workforce and their loved ones, that we are taking all necessary steps, to protect them and to make sure they have as little potential contact with the virus, as we can.

We are not an industry that lends itself to home-working, we are all about the physical and real. Until robots replace us we need to be on site to lay the bricks, hang the doors and pour the concrete.

Social distancing, at the work face, in welfare and when travelling, appears key, as well as sending home anyone with symptoms, such as elevated temperature, that can be physically checked and a continuous dry cough, that can be looked out for. Encouraging our workforce to self-police these things is key. Making the supervisors more vigilant is also important. It is about protecting the many by weeding out the few. Who knows in a few weeks the many might well be the few!

We can also clean more regularly and thoroughly and encourage our people to walk, cycle or drive, rather than use public transport. 

There are so many things we have instigated, they are too numerous to list but maybe as an industry we could be better at sharing best practice? How we do that is beyond my status and capabilities currently but open to suggestions?

Having difficult conversations with our teams is also a key component to this. Our people are fiercely loyal and devoted and thats what makes our industry special. But having people who are high risk kissing the flag and coming in to work is not right. Over the last few days, I have encouraged some of my team to do the right thing by them and their families. These are the ones who now fit the government definition of “especially vulnerable”. Who ever could imagine a few weeks back that this would ever become a thing? These people are torn, because they know they are at risk but don't want to let their colleagues down. They simply have to stay at home.

So here we are on a Sunday night, heading in to another week of uncertainty. We are taught to manage the controllables but when so much is out of our control, what should we do? 

The answer is to not give up and not to hide.

Stay strong and communicate. If you have people home working check in with them most days. Do the same with the site teams, whilst minimising contact. 

Look after your own health and welfare by following UK Government guidance. You need to be there to hold it all together.

Think of your family and friends and protect them as best you can, whilst realising that every worker on your sites, has their own family and friends to protect. They have intrinsic value as well as instrumental worth and will remember those that showed understanding and compassion.

There are no right and wrong answers to all of this, unless you are flagrantly ignoring official advice. However, the things we know are good and bad in the steady state, where killer viruses are not on the loose, are probably worthy of remembering. Listen to the official advice, interpret it in a smart way and don't wait for official clarification but above all be decisive in your actions. Until the government shuts us down. our industry needs us. So be brave, be decisive and above all be heard.