Our June Market Update includes insights from our latest contractor survey, which found that productivity levels on site in England and Wales are generally averaging around at 70-90% of pre-COVID levels. Although site-specific, factors that are currently having the most significant impact on productivity include:
- Increased idle time of workforce
- Lack of workspace to social distance
- Ability to get to site
The survey also found that rebalancing labour density on site whilst trying to maintain productivity is proving challenging but that labour levels are inevitably closely correlated with productivity. Several respondents noted that extended hours and shift-splitting are helping to improve productivity on site, as is re-sequencing work so that more is done earlier on in the programme to avoid the typical back-end spike in activity.
Survey respondents anticipate that sites won’t return to 100% productivity until the 2m social distancing rule is relaxed. In the meantime, programme delays and higher preliminary costs are likely but this may prompt greater adoption of digital technologies to improve efficiency, productivity and sustainability.
