30/3/20 - Coronavirus: a message from Mace Group CEO, Mark Reynolds

Statement issued 11.30 GMT, Monday 30 March 2020 

“Last week Mace introduced a temporary suspension of site works across all of our construction projects in the UK.

"Our first priority is the health, safety and wellbeing of everyone that works on our projects, and we introduced a suspension because we were not certain that our construction work could continue safely and in line with Government guidance.

"As the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic continue to grow across Europe and the United States, we are working tirelessly to explore what measures we would need to introduce in order to open our projects responsibly. We are carefully reviewing our operations to ensure that they can be carried out in line with Government guidelines. Although it is clear that some projects can operate under these conditions, we are not yet able to satisfy ourselves that we can do so without putting people at risk.

"As such, Mace will now introduce a rolling, temporary one-week suspension of all site activity in the UK. This suspension will be in place until at least Tuesday 7 April. It will be reviewed regularly as the situation develops to understand what, if any, work can be carried out safely. Regrettably, that means that no construction work will take place this week, other than safety critical work or activities required to protect or secure construction projects.

"Globally, we now expect to see further restrictions on movement and activity in place across the world for several months. It is likely that these restrictions will be in place for an extended period, and so it is necessary that our sector rapidly develops new ways of working that will allow us to safely deliver our construction activities while maintaining social distancing and enhanced hygiene rules. Mace is now actively working with partners across the sector and beyond to develop and implement new procedures and processes.”