How Covid-19 is Affecting the Building Industry

The Covid-19 outbreak is unprecedented. While there have been pandemic outbreaks of disease in the world's history, none have ever reached this truly global scale. With countries across the world taking radical safety measures to prevent the spread of the disease, such as social distancing and mandatory business closures, the construction industry has been affected severely as new projects slow down across the world. In today's article, we are going to have a look at some of the impacts which the coronavirus has had on the industry as a whole.

Halted projects

As you might imagine, the social distancing guidelines put in place have caused plenty of active construction projects to halt. You can probably guess how difficult it would be trying to co-ordinate building a house while keeping exactly 2 metres apart and sanitising all your equipment! Likewise, not only have many building projects been halted, but building inspections have been put on hold in many places so as to prevent inspectors from catching the disease.

Why have projects been halted?

Building projects have been suspended for a number of reasons. A large number of companies have halted their operations not out of choice, but because their main contractors have closed the site down for their own reasons. Others have shut because the UK government considers them non-essential. A considerable number have ceased operations simply because they cannot maintain 2m distancing on their site, or are having staff or supply shortages. And of course, many bosses have shut their companies down simply out of a duty to care for their employees and lessen the likelihood of them catching Covid-19.

The future impact

When the virus is gone, lasting effects will undoubtedly be left on the construction industry. With considerable government investment into new homes recently, it seems likely that the construction industry will have plenty of work to do. The biggest issue is how many companies will survive the current recession, as economic downsizing may cripple many building contractors and lead to a severe loss of jobs. Ultimately, this will depend on government intervention and action to save jobs.